The Wandering Breeze
by LordBarleby
Summary: A story about an original character: Shen is six years old when he gets separated from the Air Nomads on a picnic gone wrong. Follow Shen through his unusual life as an Airbender with no formal training, and no spiritual guidance from the Monks. Has some graphic imagery and mature scenes (description of aftermath of marauder battle)
1. Chapter 1

The Wandering Breeze

An Avatar: the Last Airbender Fanfiction

**A/N I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. I just want to play in the world for a while. Hope you enjoy! This story follows no Canon A:TLA characters, and takes place in a fluid time area. For reference, Shen is born sometime during Avatar Kyoshi's run as Avatar. I don't want to try giving it a specific time, other than Kyoshi's been around for at least one hundred years. (I read that she was Avatar for something like 230 years!) **

Chapter 1: Circus Life

The day was hot, and even for a matron of the Air Nomads, it had been a trying day. Nayumi had suggested a picnic for the younger members of the Southern Air Temple, and three nuns shepharding fifty children between five and twelve, each with the ability to coax the wind to listen to them, had been a harder prospect than they'd originally thought. So when it was time to pack up, that little Shen, who was six and a half years old, toddled off to relieve himself in the bushes without telling anyone what he was doing, was left behind you shouldn't blame Nayumi. She just wanted to give her charges a little fun. And without that, there wouldn't be this tale.

Shen returned to the clearing, bladder satisfyingly empty, to find that there was no one there. This didn't trouble him too much, for he'd always been a quiet child, a little serious for what was normally a carefree group in the Air Temple. He sat for a while, about ten minutes, but grew bored quickly. He felt the heat of the day, which was nice, and the breeze, which was nicer, and something in him wanted to follow the breeze, so he did.

The youth felt almost as if the breeze was pulling him along as he walked, tugging his sleeve as if to say 'not that way, come over here.' He listened to the breeze without a thought, and soon was almost a mile from where he'd started out, hopelessly lost in the forrest. He realized this when, getting thirsty, he turned back, only to find he had no idea which way to go to get back to the clearing in the forrest.

Even now he didn't feel too much fear, he trusted the adults to find him. He was where he was, wasn't he? And there was the sound of a wandering brook near him. With a gesture, Shen summoned a puff of air to give him a helpful push, and started off in search of the water. He quickly found it, and took a long sip from the stream, smiling gratefully. He sat down, closed his eyes, and fell right to sleep.

When Shen woke up he was itchy, covered in bug bites, and hungry. He also had to pee again. When he'd relieved himself, he realized that the light was gone, and the night had grown cold. He started to feel the first pricklings of real fear. Shen went to the stream and got another drink, then looked up. The sky had turned a rosy pink, and the clouds a deep purple as the sun sank out of sight. Shen, again summoning a breeze, lifted himself in a push, roughly smacking into a large branch of a tree. He made his way up in this ungainly fashion, until he'd reached high enough to see the forrest around him.

There was nothing he recognized, no Nayumi, or her skybison Puck, no Jinky with his shiny head and always dirty robes, nothing he recognized. Shen bit back an urge to cry, the Air Nomads teach that sadness is a myth, that fear is a distraction. He pulled the clean air into his lungs, and put all his emotions into them, and exhaled in a long breath. The leaves in a ten foot cone around him shuddered with the small gale he'd summoned. When he'd emptied his lungs, Shen felt his lips start to quiver, and a hot tear fell down his cheek.

Shen climbed down, even less careful, and scraped his cheek. His robe got caught on a branch, ripping the orange shawl right off. But he made it to the ground in one piece, and started to wander around. He decided to try going up the river, and he started traveling. After a long time his feet started to hurt, and his hunger was growing by the minute. He tried to empty his head and be one with the air like the Nomads taught, but he couldn't seem to make the sounds coming from his belly stop.

At last Shen came to a large clearing, and stopped, unable to believe his eyes. A large tent had been erected, Ostrich horses milled around, tied together and to a tree as they drank from the stream. People in the greens and muted browns of the Earth Kingdom walked, purposefully going from one place to the other on mysterious errands. Shen walked closer, his orange shawl catching on a branch. He pulled himself free, ripping the shawl from his shoulders. He didn't look back, he was too excited to see people, even if they weren't familiar.

Shen stumbled into the camp, almost getting crushed by a large man with an even bigger beard as he walked, a large wooden crate held in his arms. Shen, with the grace borne of being a personification of wind, stepped deftly out of the way. The man grunted as he stumbled, seeing Shen out of the corner of his eye.

"Hey kid, who're you and why are you in this camp?" the man asked, glowering down at little Shen. The big man's sternness unnerved Shen, who was already at the edge of his endurance. He began to cry. "Aw don't do that!" the big man said, dropping the crate with a thump that shook the ground and bending down. He looked around, there had to be a mother for this strange little bald kid, right?

"Where's your parents little guy?" the man asked.

"They left me. I can't find them anymore. I think they flew away," Shen said. He wiped his nose on his thoroughly ruined yellow shirt and stared up at the big man with grey eyes.

"Flew away? Kid nobody but the airbenders fly. They must be around here somewhere. C'mon. Let's go see Mr. Liu and we'll get this all sorted out."

The big man, Jung, led Shen to what was essentially a cabin on wheels. Mr. Liu had flyaway hair that was beginning to turn grey at the temples, and he peered down at Shen while Jung told his story.

"We're not running a daycare service, we're here to train while the rainy season passes by and it's easier to travel the roads again. Get this kid back to his parents," Mr. Liu said.

"But sir, I don't think he has any parents. He said they flew away, I think he means they died. Look, he's dirty, and he looks like he's been wandering. There isn't a village for miles around, he might have been lost all this time," Jung said.

"I don't care Jung. We need to do all we can to prepare to be on the road again. We don't have time to take care of…" Mr. Liu stopped talking. Shen had felt a tickle in his nose, and had finally sneezed. A gust of wind blew through the small space, scattering papers all around and pushing Shen back into the wall. The six-year-old wasn't hurt, and giggled at what he'd done.

"He's really an airbender! There must have been a group of them around here and he got left behind," Jung said. "We need to get to their nearest temple. Do you know where it is?" he asked Shen.

"Why are you asking the child? He won't know. And besides, do you know what kind of attraction an airbender could make? Think of it, 'The Amazing Airboy!' Rubes would come from miles around to see him, we might even be invited to the Outer Ring of Ba Sing Se if we had an airbender performing for us," Mr. Liu said.

"You can't be serious!? You want to abduct an Air Nomad boy so you can pocket a few more copper pieces? What's wrong with you?" Jung asked, his large placid face constricting into a scowl.

"I am your employer, if you don't like the way I run things you can find somewhere else to work Jung," Mr. Liu said silkily, narrowing his eyes at the big man.

"Good luck finding another Earth Carver that has my detail work," Jung shot back, anger deepening his voice. Shen grew scared again and grabbed Jung's leg, looking up at the big man as he glared at the smaller angry one.

"I won't need to if I blacklist you everywhere else," Mr. Liu said. "But let's not trade harsh words Jung. I swear on my honor that when we get near an air temple, I'll send you off with an expedition so you can bring the boy back. He'll be gone a year at most, but you know my rule. Everyone that lives here, works here. There are no free rides in this world."

"I understand. Thank you for your...generosity," Jung said. "C'mon pipsqueak, I'll show you to my tent. Mei Li's going to lose it when she meets you." Jung led Shen out of the cart-cabin and led him down the causeway.

"When do I go back to the monks?" Shen asked as Jung led him away.

"As soon as we can get you to them little guy," Jung said. "But it may be a while. In the meantime, will you show me what you can do with that airbending of yours?"

Three weeks later Shen sent a blast of air into the parasol, sending the umbrella spinning up. He gathered the muscles in his small legs underneath him and leapt, willing an updraft of air to send him up higher than he could have managed on his own. The crowd gasped as the little boy sailed into the air, alighting on a post that had been earthbent into the center ring.

Shen, dressed in swirling yellow and orange robes, landed as lightly as a leaf falling from a tree and held out his hand. Mei Li, Jung's girlfriend and the makeup artist/costumer of the circus had painted blue arrows on his hands and forehead like the Monks had. These were stylized however, given crisper edges and barbs that made them easier to see from way back in the crowd. The parasol spun to earth, and Shen held out his hand. The end of the central stick hit his finger and he balanced the contraption on the end, leaning precariously out over the space.

This was what he'd been practicing with Jung's help for the last three weeks, and the cheering of the crowd sent a surge of pride through him. As late as three nights ago he'd fallen off the pillar, to the beratement of Mr. Liu, who'd been walking by. Mr. Liu made Shen feel bad, but this made him feel all better.

Jung gave him a thumb's up from backstage, and Shen tipped him a wink from his perch on top of the pillar, which was covered in swirls. Jung was the Earthcarver of Liu's Magnificent Circus, which meant that he used precision Earthbending to create statues and interesting shapes with just a few moves.

His speciality was creating a 1/100th scale model of Omashu, brought to life in the Center ring and stretching nearly to the canvas of the hightop. He'd lived in Omashu earlier in life, but had felt the call of the road. He also did a group of abstarct designs, which he made smaller versions of to sell to the rubes on their way out of the tent.

Shen took a bow to the howling of the crowd and quickly leapt off the pillar, closing the parasol as he fell. The pillar was already being absorbed back into the earth as two more men in bright costumes came out for the 'rumble.' They were Earthbending masters who would stage a mock battle for the crowd, using elaborate Earthbending moves that were impressive, but very impractical in a true fight.

"Good job pipsqueak," Jung said, rubbing Shen's head and cursing under his breath when some of the blue paint came off. "I'm proud of you! That was really well done!" Shen beamed. He was happy.

"Hey Jung, I think I got it!" Shen shouted. He was standing in the middle of a small patch where the Pebble Pitching shed would be set up later. He was supposed to be helping move the canvas of the bigtop, but there was a problem with the Mooselion cage and most of the workers were off seeing to that. Jung, passing by with a crate filled with his smaller sculptures, stopped and looked at Shen.

"Don't you have something you should be doing?" he asked pointedly.

"Susu and Mong Long are busy with the zoo. I thought I'd practice in the meantime," Eleven year old Shen said. "And I finally figured it out! Watch!"

Shen took a deep breath, his brow bunching as he concentrated. He started moving in a circle, waving his arms slowly about his body. His feet moved gracefully and deliberately, almost in a dance. A breeze struck up around him, and the air slowly turned to a wind. A wind that moved quicker and quicker. Suddenly Shen pulled a colorful scarf out of his robe and it started to flutter around him in a circle.

A minute later, two more colored scarves joined the first one, then three more, then five. The small funnel started to wobble as Shen danced, desperately trying to keep it in motion, and the scarves flew off in different directions.

"Kind of a loose ending, but I liked it," Jung said, leaning against his crate.

"Thanks. I call it 'air juggling,'" Shen said. "I'm hoping that I can get the wind strong enough to move small balls through it."

"Maybe hold off on that until we see what it looks like in the tent," Jung said. "We don't want to pull the tent down on the rubes' heads, we'd have to issue refunds. And you know what Mr. Liu says about refunds."

"'Never spend money you want to see again,'" Shen recited.

"Exactly. Now go back to work. After you get the big top up Mei Li needs a hand with the washing."

"Ah man! I don't want to do the washing! All the clowns stink by the end of the night and they never clean their clothes, just pile it all into the laundry bag!" Shen said.

And you think Mei Li wants to do it any more than you?" Jung asked. "We're a family under the big top, we do anything to help each other."

"Alright," Shen said, drawing it out as long as he could. "I'll be there in a few minutes." He rushed off to help put the big top up and Jung smiled as he watched his young charge scamper off. Where did the years go? He thought of his unkept promise and felt a pang in his stomach. But he'd raised the boy hadn't he? He'd had him almost as long as those monks had, he couldn't give him up now. Shen barely remembered the temples anymore, and he was happy here. Was it so wrong to keep him?

Shen whipped his arms around his body, the wind whistling in his ears. They had become more muscular as he grew, and at fifteen he was beginning to resemble Jung, in body if not in face. He was never so happy as when he was pulling off a feat of airbending in front of a screaming crowd. The cheers seemed to fill his chest and buoy him, almost as much as the wind did when he controlled it right.

He brought his arms to a halt, going into a meditation stance as he stood atop the narrow stone pillar. The colored balls, hollow and made of light reeds, fell around him, as did the banner he'd been supporting as he made the 'Tornado of Color.' Shen sucked air into his lungs, it was surprisingly tiring to stand on the pillar as he controlled the wind around him.

The applause started to slow down and Shen leapt from the pillar, creating an updraft to ferry him to the earth as lightly as stepping off the last step to the ground. He bowed once more than hurried backstage. Jung, as always, clapped him on the back.

That night Shen grabbed his usual bowl of rice and chicken dumplings, then walked out to where the circus company was eating. "Hey Shen, over here!" Mu, one of the newer additions said. He was a 'man of all trades' due to his youth and inexperience in the circus. And probably a runaway.

Shen waved and started walking over. "Shen, won't you sit with us?" Mei Li asked, sitting down next to Jung, who was already tearing into his bowl with gusto.

"Let him sit with his friend Mei, you don't want to embarrass the boy," Jung said as the others laughed and hooted. Shen, red-eared, sat down next to Mu.

"Must have been nice to grow up in the circus," Mu said as Shen sat down.

"Yeah, I guess," Shen said. "I don't remember any other life. But I must have had

airbending parents, though I don't remember any temples or anything. Everybody's always asking me about airbenders, but I barely know anything."

Mu opened his mouth to ask a question, but there was shouting. A large boulder flew up and landed among the tents, smashing one of the game booths. The assembled performers screamed, and Shen, among a few others, leapt up. Jung was among them as well.

"Get to the tents! It's marauders," Jung shouted. The performers who couldn't Earthbend scrambled, followed by a few of the ones that could. They'd faced marauder attacks before, usually after really good nights and they were in camped further from town than normal. The Earthbenders would erect a barrier and the fighters would take down the marauders. Mr. Liu usually pulled up stakes quickly after an attack, but the circus was between three towns and they'd been doing so well that he'd stayed. This was the third attack in two weeks.

"Get to the bunker!" Shen shouted at Mu. The new kid was an Earthbender, but not a very powerful or inventive one. He'd be safer acting as a 'rearguard' for the people that couldn't fight. Shen summoned a blast of air that rocketed him above the tents. His stomach flopped as the feeling of, for the briefest of moments, flight took him, and then he was crashing back to the ground. The blast of air flowed from and around him, like he'd popped an enormous bubble and it was now escaping in every direction.

Two men, one armed with a hammer, grunted as they were pushed over by the unexpected gust. The one with the hammer got up, growling through a beard as thick as Jung's. He raised the hammer over his head and then slammed it down. Shen felt the earth rumble beneath his feat and he summoned an updraft, pushing himself up as a boulder ripped itself from the ground and formed into a spire of rock, meant no doubt to throw him high and hard enough to break his neck.

The former Air Nomad spun, diffusing the remaining force and putting himself in a new area of unblemished dirt. A pebble screamed through the air behind him, he twitched as his body instinctively tried to get out of the way but it wasn't needed. It flew a foot past his ear and smacked the bearded man in the forehead. The man's head rocked back and he fell.

Jung rushed up beside Shen and grabbed his shoulder roughly. "What are you doing? Get to the shelters! I need you to protect Mei Li!"

Shen shook his head. "I can be more helpful out here! I can scare them away if you give me the chance! Go to the shelter, you aren't a fighter." Jung frowned, but couldn't deny his son's words. While he was a big man, and an amazing Earthbender, Jung wasn't one for roughhousing. The pebble was a perfect example, precise to the extreme, but low in overall power. If he met an Earthebending marauder he couldn't take by surprise, he'd be finished.

"Just be careful. I don't want anything to happen to you," Jung said. Shen nodded, and then summoned an updraft, catapulting himself up and away from the scene of the scuffle. He alighted in a tree, clutching the branches to stop himself from falling out again, and surveyed the clearing. Rocks hurled themselves from the ground and then fell again to crater booths and attractions. The animal cages were open, and two marauders and three of the circus folk were defending themselves in a hastily made earthen fortification from two mooselions that circled them.

A group of marauders were going toward the cart that Mr. Liu lived in. Shen leapt again, summoning a breeze to keep himself in the air. It wasn't long before he was plunging to the earth, stomach leaping into his chest as he hurtled toward the ground. A blast of wind slowed his fall enough so that he hit softly, and he sprang forward. Soon he was at the avenue that intersected with the path to Mr. Liu's cart, and he could almost feel the marauders coming. He heard their gasps as they drew air into their lungs.

Shen centered himself. Jung had taught him that the key to bending, of any kind, was to be part of your element, immersing yourself in it. You didn't control it, you directed it to your advantage. Your will bound with the spirits of the element, and sent it forth. Shen breathed, becoming one with the breeze, and lifted his hands, fingers spread.

He caught the air, gathering it to him as he felt the marauders coming, and then _pushed_ with all he had. A blast of air roared past him, continuing like a wave on the surf and hit just as the marauders ran into the intersection. It picked them up and hurled them sideways, blasting them off their feet and tumbling them into one of the tents. The canvas fell around them, and the thin rock rods that supported it crumbled along microfractures that occur in Bent rock.

Shen leapt forward, swirling air around him. He was always surrounded by his element, it was part of what made Airbenders and Firebenders so formidable compared to Earthbenders and Waterbenders, but it took a while to coax the air into a significant force. Shen wove his arms, summoning the air into a loop that he could then send at his enemy when he was ready. It was a rudimentary trick, he didn't know what the Air Nomads did when they fought, but a Waterbender had taught him the trick when they'd passed through a swamp.

One of the marauders got up. He wore a brilliant green and yellow sash across his waist, and a scarf covered his bald head, woven into a braid that fell from the back of his skull. He stared at Shen, who stood his ground despite the fact that the man's gaze made him want to turn and run. His eyes were glassy as the marbles in the stuffed Platapusbears that the games gave as prizes. He stomped on the ground and a tremor shook the immediate area.

Shen struck out with a clenched fist, the air surrounding him traveling along his arm like a snake and swirling in a tight funnel at the marauder. He leapt into the air, surprising Shen who'd expected him to try and dig in. The air swirled the man, but by moving his arms he was able to ride the wave of air as it turned him, and he used the momentum to hammer-kick the ground. A wave of earth erupted from his foot and hurled itself at Shen.

The boy spun, wind swirling around him to make him go faster, and he avoided the wave of rock. But only just. His robe tore along the seam as a flap caught on the earth spire and it pulled Shen off balance. The marauding Earthbender stomped the ground, and the soil beneath Shen's back seemed to turn to quicksand. It started sucking him in before he knew what was happening.

"No!" a voice shouted from behind. Jung stomped the earth as well, returning it to its formerly rigid state. Shen scrambled up and backed away.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be looking after Mei Li?" Shen asked.

"The shelter's been breached, they're scattered all around! I was looking for her when I felt you in trouble," Jung said. "Back away from my son and I won't hurt you," Jung said, speaking now to the marauder.

"You speak with such confidence Earthcarver. But you are not a fighter, I can tell by your stance. Leave the Airbender to me, and I'll leave you, and this circus in peace," the marauder said.

"Why would you do that? What's so special about him?" Jung asked, moving in front of Shen as he spoke.

"Do you know how many Airbenders outside those foolish Nomads there are? Very few, and one would be a valuable addition to my group. Or to someone looking for rareties," the marauder said, smiling at Shen. He shivered, the smile was as dead as the eyes. "Besides, he needs to learn a lesson anyway. No one attacks Tozoku and gets away with it," the marauder said.

"Get out of here. Find Mei Li and protect her. I'll deal with 'Tozoku,'" Jung said. Shen stepped back but hesitated.

"What about you?" he asked.

"I don't matter! Find you mother and keep her safe. I'll find you when this is over," Jung said. He looked back at Shen, and the boy could see tears in his eyes. "Now go." Jung turned back to Tozoku and drew back a fist, slamming one of his bare feet into the ground. Tozoku got into a fighting stance, one arm bent at the elbow with fist facing down, the other opposite. His legs were in a perfect horse stance, and his sash hung between his legs.

"Run along young Airbender. I'll catch up with you soon enough," Tozoku said. He smiled at Shen, and winked. Shen backed away, then ran back down the alleyway. There was a rumble behind him, then a cry. It was Jung, and Shen couldn't tell whether it was pain, fear or anger. It was probably all three.

Shen pulled air into his lungs as he ran, each stride almost ten feet long with the assistance of a harsh breeze he summoned. His robes flapped around him, and he felt the painted arrows on his head running as sweat blossomed across his scalp. He skidded around a corner and nearly ran into another member of the circus. Hok-Chin was large and muscular, but on the verge of being fat. He was one of the Rumble fighters for the circus, though not one of the original ones. He'd been with the circus for a few months, and was looking alive for the first time since Shen had seen him.

"Have you seen Mei Li?" Shen gasped, stopping his running. His body seemed to vibrate with the need to move and it took conscious effort not to just go running off.

"Nope. Seen a lot of marauders though. Know where any more are?" Hok-Chin asked.

"Back that way, Jung's fighting with their leader, I think," Shen said.

"Jung? Fighting? Don't make me laugh little airboy," Hok-Chin said. "I'll go show him what real fighting looks like." He barrelled off, his doughy muscles jiggling. Shen cursed then pushed off. He had to find Mei Li.

The bigtop had been toppled, and the remains of the Earth barrier that had been made into a shelter was scattered about. A body lay in the dirt, petite and femenine. Shen's heart quickened and he bent down, examining the face. He pulled back, relieved and sickened at himself for it as he saw it was Wei Lin, one of the dancing girls. Her eyes were open and as glassy as Tozoku's had been.

Shen leapt forward, going inside and trying to sort out who was who in the darkness. Many had been crushed by falling rock, and a few had been stabbed as the marauders had gone through, searching for valuables.

He exited the shelter, looking around. If Mei Li had escaped the carnage, then where would she have gone? To their tent? It was as good a place to start as any. Shen raced through the twisting avenues of the circus and came at last to the tent he, Jung and Mei Li shared. It was a larger tent then most, made out of stone. Jung always made one whenever they stopped and it was closer to a small house. There was even a 'shingled roof' carved out of the top, made by Jung's eye for detail.

The door-flap was ripped off, and Shen felt his stomach prickle as he came close. He didn't want to look inside, but he had to. He entered. The curtain that separated his parent's room from his was ripped off. Mei Li lay on her bed mat, her hair tangled in a way it had never been in life. Her eyes were dead, just like Tozoku and the dancing girl's. Her hand was clutched over a knife wound in her side, and the mat was soaked in her blood.

Shen howled, letting all his pain and anger fill his voice. His breath produced a wind as strong as any he'd conjured, and the roof of the stone tent was blown off, cracking and then flinging itself away as it bore the brunt of his anger. He knelt by his mother, her body still warm, though it had begun to cool. Shen put his finger over her eyes and closed them. It was all he could do for her now.

He sat there, stiff and unmoving, through the rest of the night. Cries and rumbles occasionally pierced the darkness, but they made no impression on Shen. He didn't hear them. He felt hot tears slide down his cheeks for a while. Then they stopped. Later they started again as his body processed more moisture for them to consume. By the time light touched the horizon he felt dry, and scooped hollow like a gourd. Mu found him, touching his shoulder.

"The marauders have gone. Mr. Liu's safe and they didn't get any of the money. I'm sorry about your mom. Did you hear about Jung?" Mu asked. Shen shook his head. "He's gone too. He tried to fight the leader of the marauders. Shen...what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to leave," Shen said. Part of him had known this would be so since he'd seen Mei Li's dead body, but it was a certainty now that he knew Jung was gone too. Staying would be too painful. And without his family, he was empty. Maybe he'd find a new family in the Monks. Or they'd teach him to lose his pain. That's what they did right? It was what everyone said. They lived above all that. Greed, pain, suffering, happiness. He was turning out to be more like them than he'd thought.

"You can't go! We'll need you! Especially now that Jung's gone, he was one of the biggest attractions," Mu said, then winced. It was the wrong thing to say, and he knew it.

"I don't care about any of that now. I always meant to return to my people, I guess Mr. Liu will just have to remember that particular promise," Shen said. He marched out of the remains of the tent and headed to Mr. Liu.

"Are you crazy? You can't just abandon us now you little snot! We just lost one of our biggest attractions, half the animals are missing, and at least ten people are dead! We need all the manpower we have!" Mr. Liu said. Shen stood resolute.

"I'm not leaving right away, I need to bury Jung and Mei Li. But after that I'm going back to the Air Nomads. Give me the map so I can find them," Shen said.

"Humph. I don't have a map to the Air Nomads, and even if I did you aren't going anywhere," Mr. Liu said.

"What?!" Shen shouted, "But you told Jung the night he rescued me…"

"I know what I said, but I was lying! I wanted to keep you, and he obviously did as well or he'd have made more of an effort. He's known I don't have one for three years now, and if he doesn't have one then you're out of luck. Not that you're going, as I keep seeming to remind you, I own you," Mr. Liu said.

"Own me? Nobody owns me Liu," Shen growled. "I stayed here because I liked it here. I made a family here. But that family is dead. There's nothing for me here now, and I'm getting out."

"You ungrateful child! I took you in, clothed you, fed you, paid you, and what do you give me in return? Nothing but rejection! Go help put the bigtop back up and I _might_ forget this ridiculous conversation. Go on, get out of my office," Mr. Liu said, turning away from Shen. His grey hair quivered, then quaked. He looked at Shen with eyes widening into fear.

The Airbender was standing with his fists clenched, grey eyes locked on Mr. Liu. The air around him was dancing, responding to his anger and turning into a small hurricane inside the office. "You do NOT tell me what I can and can't do!" Shen shouted. "I'm leaving, and that's that. There's nothing you can say that'll stop me!" He turned around, papers flying around him, and tore open the wooden door. He leapt over the stairs and onto the ground.

"Stop him! He's leaving without my permission!" Mr. Liu shouted, peering around the door-frame and pointing at Shen. Several of the workers looked around in confusion, then saw Shen. The ones that knew him nodded to him, then went back to work. Several of the roustabouts, drifters who were hired for their labour and only cared about money, closed in on Shen.

"If you try to stop me, you'll regret it," Shen said, his voice low. The roustabouts looked at each other than closed in on the sixteen year old. Shen waved his arm, and a breeze that was stiff but small 'slapped' the lead man in the face. He grimaced, but kept coming, arms held out wide.

Shen leapt, sending a blast of air down to boost his jump, and sailed over the roustabout's heads. He started running, the breeze blowing around him and pushing him forward faster than the men could run. He leapfrogged out of the camp, jumping up onto the temporary structures that bent beneath his weight, already stressed nearly to the point of collapse after the attack the night before.

The roustabouts tried to follow him, but he was like a monkey, climbing over the stalls and using air blasts to stay above the lanes. They couldn't keep up. Soon Shen was out of the camp and running into the forrest, eschewing the road. He knew that Liu wouldn't waste all that much time on one runaway, even one as valuable as Shen. He'd have a show to put on that night.

Shen went deep into the forrest and then leapt up, using the trees to give him a boost. The nearest village was two hours walk to the West. But he couldn't go there, because the performers and workers would be going through there, or might think to look for him there. He knew the circus' root like the back of his hand. They'd gone in a winding path his whole life. Outside that path, he knew almost nothing. All he knew was that the Earth Kingdom was big, big enough to hide one Airbender.

Shen drifted to the earth and started walking. He stopped once, turning back the way he'd come. He could still faintly hear the shouting of the circus behind him, and his heart seemed to tear itself in two. He was alone again, just as he'd been on that day he dimly remembered a decade ago. He wiped his tears on his robe, then pulled the bright yellow and orange cloth off himself. He used it to wipe the arrow off his forehead, then his hands.

He wore a simple brown tunic with yellow piping, and rough brown pants underneath. He was no longer Shen, the performing Airboy. Now he was a lone wanderer. His circus life, was over. Shen walked into the forrest, skirting the village and setting out for the Western portion of the Earth Kingdom, and hopefully toward an Airtemple that would welcome him into their fold.

**Author's Note; Hope you enjoyed that. I don't have the next section written, nor do I know how long it'll be before I post again. I know, bad form, but this is just for fun between projects. I was inspired by 'The Rise of Kyoshi,' an excellent book for any A:TLA FAN. It'll be short, four or five chapters at most of a similar length to this one. The next chapter is tentatively called 'Beggar Boy.' Will write as inspiration, and time, permit. Until then, Live Long and Prosper, Go with Peace, and Wubba Lubba Dub Dub. **

**~LB **


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Beggar Boy

**A/N I don't own A:TLA, I just want to play in the world for a while. Hope you enjoy!**

Shen no longer felt the hunger that had plagued him as he wandered through the forrest, then the plains as he made his way through the Earth Kingdom. The small towns had been uniquely unhelpful when he'd passed through, and it had been nearly a week since he'd eaten anything other than a few berries he'd found growing in a nearby bush. Thankfully they'd been Bacui berries, which were not only nutritious but had healing properties, and not Maka-ole berries, which may have caused him to go blind.

Every village and settlement Shen had passed through had hurried him on his way, sometimes with the added incentive of a pitchfork or Earthbent rock. Nobody liked a beggar, and after traveling through the forrest for nearly a week to bypass the village close to the circus, that was what Shen looked like. His robe was torn and dirty and his pants were ragged from being caught on leaves.

The gnawing hunger had finally given way to a strange emptiness, an absence of feeling. He was constantly light headed, and often thought that he was just floating away from his earthly body. Every time he felt this though, a jolt of fear coursed through him, temporarily making him aware of his surroundings again. The forrest had long since petered out, and after the third village Shen had realized he'd have to get to a large town if he'd have any hope of finding a map to the nearest Air Temple.

He still had little idea of Earth Kingdom geography, but he thought he remembered Jung pointing off in the distance when they'd come through this way before and telling him that Taku, one of the great trading cities of the whole Earth Kingdom was near their path. To that end, Shen had traveled as quickly as he could, stopping in barns and fields to rest, drinking whatever water he could find, but he was dangerously close to the end of his endurance.

Cresting a hill Shen tore his eyes from the ground with an effort, and gasped. The great city, carved into the face of a mountain, rose out of the plain and almost seemed a part of the distant mountain range. Shen could see the twin Badger-Mole statues all the way from the small hill he stood on.

Shen started to run, even though he was still too far to get there before the sun went down the joy he felt at finally finding civilization was too much to contain, and he couldn't stop himself. He ran for nearly an hour, bringing himself to and then past the edge of exhaustion. Shen collapsed, still miles from Taku, and his last sight that day was of the great Badger-Moles.

The next day Shen joined a convoy of wagons that were making their way into the city. He hadn't noticed them the day before, but when he'd looked around upon waking he'd seen them moving toward the city. A long line of people in dusty and ragged clothing was marching behind them. Shen easily became one of the crowd and was ushered through the main thoroughfare into the city.

Unlike Omashu and Ba Sing Se, Taku was an open city. There was no wall to guard against thieves and daofe, but no one would think of openly attacking the city, unless they wanted to stab themselves in the foot. Taku's importance was the reason it needed no walls, it was the primary import station of the entire Earth Kingdom. Ships from all over the world stopped here to resupply and unload their cargo, and the great merchant lines all had offices or houses inside the city. This was the beating heart of the Earth Kingdom's economy, and no inside force would dare jeopardise that.

Shen stared as he entered, he'd never seen a place this big before. He'd thought the grand tent at the circus had been big, it looked like a peddler's awning in comparison to these buildings! Guards at either side of the street made Shen shrink back, but they only stopped to ask about swords or examine merchandise. It took the better part of an hour for Shen to make it through and they took one look at him and that was all. He wasn't worth their attention.

Inside the main road was a clamour of activity, and it actually made Shen relax a bit. It reminded him of opening nights, or any day of the circus an hour before the curtains went up. Shen navigated the busy streets, running between ostritch-horse carts and soldiers, and all the while he searched the signs around him. Shen couldn't read, at least not well. Jung and Mei Li had not been readers, and Jung hadn't been able to read much at all. Shen could read large letters, siguls that denoted the broad idea of what was meant to convey, but detailed symbols were pretty lines to him. This meant he could tell approximately what the advertisements were alluding to without getting any fine detail.

But the sign he was looking for leapt out as he passed off the main thoroughfare to follow the wares. It was the sign for 'Oddities,' which meant that the shop dealt in previously used goods, or things that the layperson wouldn't be interested in. It was a curio shop. Shen quickly ducked inside the curtain, brushing the dust off his robe to try to make a better impression. He had no money, but he didn't expect to need any, as long as the proprietor was an agreeable person.

The man behind the counter was thin but on the edge of losing that status. His gut hung over his sash and his sallow face was starting to bulge into a double chin, especially when he looked down. Shen marched right up to the counter, and the man, who hadn't taken his eyes off the airbender since he'd entered, rose.

"I'm here to find out where I could find a map to the nearest Airtemple," Shen said.

"You got business with the monks kid?" the man asked smiling. Something about the smile made Shen uncomfortable, it looked like the smiles on the lead marauder's face when Shen had prepared to fight. Luckily his eyes didn't have that same dead look, they were alive with bright curiosity.

"I may. Where would I find such an...object?" Shen asked, stumbling over his words as he tried to sound important.

"Well I'm not really sure. I sell maps of the Earth Kingdom, and some of the world (which are much more expensive) but for something that detailed…" the man trailed off, looking down. He looked back up a moment later and eyed Shen. "Why would some beggar boy off the street be looking for a map to an Airtemple?" he asked.

"Why do you need to know why I want it?" Shen asked. The man, instead of looking angry, smiled even wider.

"I do not have such a thing in my shop, so tell me kid why should I give money to one of my rivals? Two silver pieces and I _may_ be able to tell you where you could find what you seek," the man said.

"Two silver pieces!? Just to tell me where I might find what I'm looking for? No wonder you stay in business if you treat all your customers this way," Shen said.

"I'll give you the information for free if you can prove you have metal on you at all," the man said, unwavering in his slightly creepy grin. Shen hugged and dug his hands in his pockets, half hoping that a piece would have magically appeared there. Apparently no spirits had taken pity on him, because there was nothing but some leaves in his pocket, and two of the scarves he used in his air juggling.

"I've got no money. I was hoping I could do some task that would be worth the price," Shen said, his ears reddening. The storekeeper looked at him for a moment and then laughed out loud, a great bellowing laugh that jiggled his belly and sent tears falling down his cheeks.

"You expected to get a map to an Airtemple by doing chores? Little beggar you're more brazen than you look, and you look very brazen in deed, coming in here with no money and expecting value for it," the man stopped laughing and his face took on a hard cast. "I'll tell you who could get you something like a map, if you do something for me."

The man left the counter and opened the curtain. He swept his head up and down the street, watching men and women flow past him as they did their shopping and tied a tasselled rope across the doorway with a sign on it. When that was done he grabbed Shen's shoulder. The young airbender tried to twist away but it was no good. The shopkeeper had a grip like iron. He pulled the boy into the back of his ship and then sat on a pillow. Shen sat across from him on the floor.

"Can you read?" the shopkeeper asked. Shen shook his head and the shopkeeper nodded. "I thought so. I want you to find a store with this symbol on it. It'll be down the way and around the corner by a bit. The man that runs the place, Ezu, is a rival of mine. He and I have been stealing these valuable marble balls from each other for the last ten years. No one so far has been rich enough to buy even one of them, so they don't move but it's a point of pride to have them. He sent a boy to steal them from me two years ago, and all my attempts have failed. If you get them back, I'll tell you where you can find your map." The shopkeeper took out a chopstick and traced a symbol in the dirt of the back room's floor. "This is his symbol. If you're not back here in…" he stepped to a shelf and pulled off a candle that was half way burned down, "two hours, or by the time this candle has burned down, even if you have the marbles, you get nothing. Understand?"

Shen nodded. The shopkeeper reached into his sleeve and pulled out sparkrocks. He banged them together and the wick caught. "You'd better hurry," the shopkeeper said, smiling again. Shen stood and backed away. The dim light from before made the shopkeeper's eyes look brown, but they were actually a deep bronze that Shen had never seen in the Earth Kingdom before.

He left the shop, almost twisting himself over the rope that hung in the doorway, and walked down the street. He walked to the other shop, which wasn't hard to find, in fact it would have been hard to miss. This street seemed to connect to the main thoroughfare again, and it was certainly nicer than the shop that he'd left. It was made of wood instead of stone, with granite columns in front and a real doorway. Over the door was the symbol the shopkeeper had made in the dirt.

Shen walked inside, trying to be casual, and almost immediately felt a hand on his shoulder.

"No beggars in here," a man in armor that bore no insignia said. He had a rough beard and glared at Shen.

"I'm no beggar, I was sent by my master to deliver a message," Shen said.

"Who's your master?" the guard asked. Shen felt sweat break out under his arms and his heart started thumping. The shopkeeper hadn't told Shen his name!

"Pao. He has a shop near here? He told me to deliver a message directly to the owner," Shen improvised wildly.

"Wu Pei isn't here, he's got a meeting with the captain of his ship. He should be back soon," the guard said, letting his grip loosen on Shen's arm, but watching him carefully.

"I don't have time to wait! Master Pao told me to be right back!" Shen said, trying to make himself cry. He thought of Jung and had to bite back a true sob, only letting a tear track down his face.

"He'll probably want the message delivered much more than he'll want you back as quickly as you can," the guard said. "Here, wait in the atrium and I'll tell you when Wu Pei is back."

"Thank you," Shen said, and he couldn't believe that had worked. The guard went back to his station and customers flowed in and out, dealing with the man at the desk. At first Shen stood in once place, putting only a half-feigned look of bewilderment on his face as he looked at all the people that passed through. While he looked at the people Shen also looked at the wares, and noticed that several were in glass cases.

One of the cases, near the head of the cashier, was a display with six lava-colored marbles in them. Shen knew he'd found his quarry and hid a grin behind a fake cough. He put his hand down and started swirling his fingers, expecting the air to respond. Only it didn't. Shen frowned, and then breathed, in and out, like Jung had taught him. Except thinking of those lessons, sitting on the first available soft piece of ground, listening to Jung's breath as it came and went, as it would never do again, made something inside Shen break.

He snarled to himself, biting his lower lip hard enough to draw a few coppery drops of blood, and focused his will. He started swirling his fingers again, and he felt the faint tickle of a breeze, but it was nowhere near what it should have been. He could feel his tenuous grip on the air, and his heart thudded. What was wrong with him? He focused, bending all his consciousness into swirl the air around his fingers. At last it truly responded, but making it move and keeping it moving were requiring almost all his attention.

Where before, calling the wind had been almost instinctual, like calling over a puppy. The air had willingly and even joyously responded to Shen's slightest movement. Now it was like an old fat hound that needed to be tugged so that it would go outside and relieve itself. Shen, when he was sure no one was watching, thrust a fist forward and a compressed jet of air flew from his fist and knocked into a mannequin that was displaying a hideous Platapus-bear stole that kept the head as part of some kind of hood.

The air knocked the mannequin into a display of jewels that spilled like multicolored ice chips all over the floor. Patrons gasped and one even slipped as she brought her slippered foot down over one of the more round pieces.

The guard hurried over, as did the cashier, and they started hurriedly picking up the pieces of jade, amethyst and crystal. Shen quickly jumped up on the counter, relying entirely on his agility because the air was just so...dead, and grabbed the marbles from the case. He didn't think anyone would notice them missing for a while, and all the patrons were watching and tittering as the two employees scrabbled around for the jewels.

Shen resumed his previous position just as the guard straightened up and instinctively scanned the store. His eyes fell on Shen for a long moment, then passed on. Shen waited until the mess was cleaned, and a few minutes had passed so that the guard and the cashier would get back into their normal routine. He walked up to the guard and pulled his sleeve like a child, even though he was only a head smaller than the man.

"Can you tell your boss that Pao got his order? I don't think I can wait any longer," Shen said.

"Sure kid, run along now," the guard said, as if talking to someone much younger. Shen put a bright smile on his face and hurried from the store. He'd never stolen anything in his life, at least nothing valuable. He'd taken one of Jung's carvings from his stand once, but he'd known Jung could have made dozens more and hadn't felt like he was _stealing_ it. This was different, these marbles were so different from anything he'd seen before they had to be unique and valuable, and he'd just taken them from a store without permission!

For a moment Shen turned back, half sure that his legs would carry him right back inside so he could report what he'd done. 'But what would that accomplish? I wouldn't get the map, I'd spend the day in the stockade, maybe a month. I need to find my people as quickly as possible,' Shen thought.

With that he turned back the way he'd come and retraced his steps back to the curio shop. The sign was still hung on the rope, but Shen ignored it as he stepped over the rope and through the curtain. The shopkeeper was behind the counter, reading a scroll with the candle burning beside him. There was still a fair amount of wax left.

"So you decided not to go through with it after all? I must admit I'm disappointed but not surpri... " the shopkeeper said, then his eyes widened as Shen emptied the marbles from his sleeve. "You got them?" The shopkeeper asked. Shen nodded and layed them carefully on the counter.

"Well aren't you full of surprises," the shopkeeper said. "My name is Ranshao, it's nice to truly meet you." he bowed and Shen quickly bowed back.

"Where can I get the map to the nearest Airtemple?" Shen asked.

"There's maps for sale on the main thoroughfare, in Quang's Cartography, but he only sells to merchants, seamen, and those with lots of silver. A map that rare might even rate a gold piece or two," Ranshao said, looking morose. But there was something about that look that Shen didn't trust. "I could help you get the money, if you agreed to work for me. Be one of my 'errand boys.' Of course it could take you a while to earn enough to get it, but I have a feeling that few would be so generous as to match my offer," Ranshao said.

"What would I do if I was your 'errand boy?'" Shen asked.

"You'd help me pick up objects that are held by those who don't value them like I do. You'd also be responsible for certain...deliveries that need to remain confidential. I can't promise steady work, but I think that in...two to three months you'd have enough for what you seek. I can also provide food and lodging, though of course the cost would be deducted from your pay. A certain percentage of your overall earnings, taken each month. Do we have a deal?" Ranshao asked.

Shen stared into the strange amber eyes, his stomach roiling in his middle. He knew what a bad deal looked like, hadn't he lived under Mr. Liu for most of his memory? But Ranshao was right, no one would hire a boy that looked like a beggar, not for good pay, and if the shopkeeper was right than it could take him months, maybe even a year, to earn enough to pay for the map. Shen sighed and nodded.

"Good," Ranshao said, and suddenly another boy, this one around fourteen was standing behind him. "Follow Di here to the lodging house. He'll tell you the rules and get you acquainted with the others.

"C'mon new kid, let's go," Di said, his voice and eyes far older than his body. Shen followed him out the back of the shop and into the maze-like back alleys of Taku.

**So this chapter and the next were supposed to be just one, but I think I hit a good narrative break here. The bad news is, you're left a little hanging as to what will happen next to Shen. The good news is, this part of the story will get more attention and be less rushed than it otherwise would have been and you'll get more material over all (assuming you want that of course :)). The next chapter is tentatively called 'The Bald Bandit' in homage to the greatest Earthbender in the world. ~LB **

**P.S if you could review, especially if you think it needs improvement and have a constructive criticism about the characterizations, plot, pacing, structure, etc. I'd really appreciate it. ~LB **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N I don't own A:TLA, I just want to play in the world for a while. Hope you enjoy!**

Shen followed Di through the maze-like streets of Taku, and realized that without the boy in front of him he'd be totally lost. There were no landmarks he could recognize, no familiarity. He wouldn't even be able to find his way to the main street, much less back to Ranshao's shop. This made him very nervous, and the feeling was not helped by the area Di was leading him to.

"So what's Ranshao got on you?" Di asked as they rounded a corner, stepping over an entire line of older men wrapped in rags with their hands out. Shen recoiled at the stink they gave off. Why would anyone choose to live like this?

"I don't think he's 'got' anything on me. He's giving me work so I can buy something I need," Shen said.

"Yeah. I've got the same deal. Listen new kid, you won't get the best, but if you follow my lead you won't get the worst either. I can help you get a blanket to sleep on, and your daily porridge. If you give me some of it, I'll even let you be part of my gang," Di said.

"Why would I give you some of my food? I don't want to be part of a gang I just want to do the work," Shen said. Di laughed.

"You're naive for someone so old. I'll give you some time and keep the offer open, but it won't be forever. I must be getting soft in my old age," Di said.

"You're what, fourteen? I'm a year older than you at least," Shen said, amused by the boy's presumption.

"I'm thirteen actually, but to me you're a baby. Well, maybe a toddler. You were able to get the magma marbles, that's impressive. How'd you manage that by the way?" Di asked.

"I'm smart," Shen said.

"Yeah yeah, keep it to yourself. See if I care, but if you want to join my gang, you'll tell me," Di said.

"I don't want to join okay? I just want to do the work for Ranshao and get what I want," Shen said.

"Whatever. You'll probably change your tune soon. We're here," Di said, walking up to the door of a ramshackle house and opening the door.

"This is the house?" Shen asked, looking around. The floor was open, with only a curtained off area in one place. The steps led to a loft that acted as a second floor. The loft had some cushions and a cookpot, guarded by an older woman who looked asleep. She had a slate next to her, and a piece of chalk. The ground floor was covered in sleeping blankets, and about ten boys were sprawled around. There was space for other blankets, but Shen didn't see any placed and marking territory.

"That's Lady Ushima, she takes your mark to prove you've gotten your porridge. Depending on how much you bring in, you get more. Some even get to go for seconds. As leader of the gang, I get a dollop of each person's share," Di said.

"That doesn't sound very fair," Shen said.

"Hey, I'm the one making plans and taking tallies, getting us all enough to even have two whole bowls, I deserve a little tribute," Di said forcefully.

"Okay, fine. You do what you do, but I'm not having any part of it," Shen said.

"Well maybe I don't want you in my gang anymore," Di said. He roughly grabbed Shen's arm and dragged him to Lady Ushima. "He's new. Ranshao says to get his mark and blanket."

"Don't order me around you whelp, or I'll give you a lesson in respect," Lady Ushima said. She raised a spoon covered in dried porridge and waved it threateningly in Di's direction. He didn't look scared, but he took a step back all the same. "Now, take this and make your mark new kid. Nothing too big or I'll give you a lesson. Then you can grab a blanket from the supply closet," Lady Ushima said.

Shen took the proffered chalk nub and drew a swirl design he remembered Mei Li telling him was an Air Nation symbol. He handed the chalk back and followed Lady Ushima to the closet. She grabbed a blanket and roughly handed it to Shen.

"You'll want to keep that on you," Di said. "You don't get another one, and the others take any blankets lying around."

"Okay. Thanks for helping me Di," Shen said.

"Don't mention it. I'm still waiting to hear how you got those marbles," Di said.

The next two weeks Shen was given little to do other than sleep, eat and hang around the house. He had a hard time adjusting to the new surroundings, mostly because of the other boys. They were all trying to one up each other it seemed, or take something from another boy. The only time Lady Ushima got involved was if any of the boys tried to take food. A man came in every now and then, looking over the boys. Once he called a group by name, Di among them. They'd been gone for almost a whole day, and when they'd come back they'd looked very proud of themselves.

"So, given any more thought to my offer?" Di asked as the third week came around. "Sitting in here won't net you any more pay you know, you're just bleeding money. Ranshao won't need me or my crew for a while after our caper, so we're clear to do some extra curricular stuff."

"What kind of stuff?" Shen asked wearily. He didn't know why Di was so interested in him, but it was becoming harder to find reasons to say no to the other boy.

"Anything we want, so long as we don't get caught. If you do, Ranshao is done with you," Di said. "That's the one rule, besides ol' Ranny getting some of the take. One of my boys was taken by the Taku Guard, and Ranshao almost took the lot of us off the payroll."

"Why?" Shen asked.

"Are you dumb? Because our jobs require us to be anonymous! If the other shop owners recognized us we couldn't get within ten feet of the merchandise," Di said.

"But how do you keep from getting recognized?" Shen asked.

"Disguises mostly. Not like masks, that would be too obvious, but you can put some obvious clothes on, or dirty your face. If you do that, then on a real job if you wear your normal stuff nobody'll recognize you," Di said.

"Do you have a job coming up?" Shen asked.

"Me and the boys have been cooking something up. Interested?" Di asked, grinning widely.

"Fine. I'll do it if it'll get you off my back," Shen said.

"That's the spirit!" Di said, slapping Shen's back. "Now, here's what we're going to do…"

Shen rubbed his head. He'd borrowed a razor from one of the other boys and cut off his hair. Di claimed that Ranshao didn't give new boys jobs often, and that Shen's hair would be mostly grown back by the time Ranshao finally got back to him. And even if not, there was always a hat.

Shen was to act as a lookout, he kept watch for Taku Guard or merchant beaters, the mercenaries merchants hired to beat anyone that came near their wares. If trouble happened near a protected merchant's stall they would get involved, clubbing anyone who made a ruckus.

The target of Di and the other boys was pickpocketing. Di and two others sat at a corner, wearing filthy blankets and covering their faces in dirt. The other members of Di's gang would be placed throughout the crowd. Anyone rich and stupid enough to give the gang some coin would show exactly where their moneypouch was, and if it was worth stealing.

If Shen noticed anyone quicken to what they were doing he'd signal, and the gang would do a fade into the crowd. It was incredibly dishonest, and Shen felt bad about what he was doing, but what other choice did he have? Ranshao claimed it would take almost a year to earn enough coin from him for Shen to get the map to the Airtemple, and Ranshao wasn't even giving steady work. If Shen didn't want to be there for years he needed money now.

A man in well-made but inexpensive cloth stopped briefly on the street next to Di, who had tears in his eyes almost immediately. Shen noticed that the other boys were doing something with their hands as the mid-tier man pulled out a small pouch and pulled a few copper pieces from it.

The man dropped the coins in a 'grateful' Di's outstretched hands, and tucked the pouch into the back of his belt. One of the other boys made a signal, and another boy who Shen vaguely recognized started matching the elder's pace. Suddenly two other boys appeared and ran past the well-off man.

The first boy sped up, bumping into the man and apologizing, following the rest of the running boys. The man watched them go with a smile, completely unaware his purse had been stolen.

Shen, though a little disgusted by how easy it had been, couldn't say he hadn't been impressed. The boys had set up the scam expertly. Only those paying very diligent attention would notice. And only if they stuck around on that street for a very long time. For the next hour Di collected stray copper pieces, and the very occasional silver piece, while his friends collected the purses of all the generous donators.

The time came though when the boys' luck ran out. Taku Guard patrolled these streets often, but because of the intense number of people they didn't bother to stick around. They were a mere presence, passing by every so often. But most patrols went through maybe twice. The later patrol went by six times, and Shen caught them eyeing Di. It wasn't impossible they recognized him. For all Shen knew the boys set up here every week, maybe every day. He signalled Di, who looked around and shook his head. He hadn't seen anything suspicious, so they'd risk staying.

The guards came around again, this time Shen sidled up behind them for a few feet. "It's those damn urchins again," the older man said.

"Who?" his younger companion asked.

"They turn up here every so often, I know they're up to something but I can't tell. I want you to stay behind here and watch them. Especially the runners, I saw one of them talking to the blanket kid a few months ago, no way a casual gang stays together for so long," the guard said.

"Whatever you say," the younger guard said. Shen quickly ducked into the crowd as the guard stopped and took a position against a wall.

Shen quickly got back to his own position and frantically signalled to Di that something was wrong, that they had to evacuate. But Di was talking to an older man, playing up the tears and didn't see him. Shen felt his stomach knot, if Di was captured, and he was on watch would he be blamed? Would Ranshao throw him out? And if he did, Shen would lose any hope of making it to an Airtemple and back to his people.

He reached into his pocket and drew out the two scarves. He'd kept them, though he had no idea why. He threw one up in the air and watched it drift down. Shen clenched his hand and then wove his fingers, trying to start up a small funnel of air. It felt like his awareness of the wind died before it could leave his fingers, the air felt inert around him. Why didn't it respond? Shen put all his concentration, waved his fingers, and coaxed a small breeze.

It caught the scarf, which fluttered as it fell. It wasn't enough. Shen dug as deep inside as he could, calling on all his reserves of discipline and strength. He breathed in, feeling the air fill his lungs. He saturated them, feeling his awareness fill there as well, and then let it out. His feeling, his connection to the air flowed with the exhalation, seeping into the surrounding breeze, and Shen felt it respond.

It was still sluggish, almost drugged, and he had to use all his might to summon enough of a breeze to catch the scarf and drag it back into weightlessness. Shen added the other scarf, breathing in and out, each breath renewing his contact and control over the wind. The breeze snaked around him and he caught it, sending energy along his outstretched arms, shaped it with his fingers, and released it into the wind. The wind in turn responded to his will, gathering itself and pushing far more than it would have.

People were starting to take notice of the sceptical. They pointed at the scarves, and many whispered to wonder how the bald boy was doing what he was doing. "Gather 'round everybody!" Shen shouted in his best carnival voice. He felt a stab through his chest as he did so, it was something he'd done when he and some of the carnies were in town, advertising for the show. "See the amazing juggling trick! Notice how my hand never touches the scarves!"

Almost the whole street was gathered around him now, and Shen put on a wide smile. He sent pulses of air into the scarves, keeping them floating, and with this he also coaxed the breeze into a circular pattern that the scarves followed. It took almost all his concentration and effort to keep the two scarves in the air, to get them to float like leaves on the wind instead of tumbling to the ground in submission to gravity.

The guard had become mesmerized too, and Di (as well as the other urchins) melted into the crowd. Shen knew that they would be at Lady Ushima's house within the next few minutes, and that if he wanted to make a getaway, he'd have to do the same. The crowd was clapping, and a small rain of coins fell at his feet. Shen blushed as he realized that he was making more now than he had in his life, as far as he knew. He grabbed the scarves and whisked the coins together in a practiced motion, depositing all in his sash to the soft disappointment of the crowd.

"I'd like to thank you all for your kind patronage, but I'm afraid I must be off!" Shen said, still in the carnival bark. "Goodbye! I'll see you all soon!" With that, he sent his hands to the ground, directing a wave of air to 'grab' the dirt and push it up and around him so he could make his escape. But nothing happened. He'd lost his tenuous connection with the air and was left standing in the middle of the crowd, palms facing the ground. He reddened, waved with his fingers, and sidled through a break before sprinting away as fast as he could.

He got lost on his way back to Lady Ushima's house, but as he wandered he came across a familiar figure. Ranshao smiled at him and inclined his head in acknowledgement. Shen cautiously walked up to the storekeeper.

"How did you find me?" Shen asked.

"I knew you didn't have any idea how to get back, but I also know you're smart. I chose the path I thought you'd follow, and had some runners posted in other areas to get me if you chose a different path. But it seems I didn't need them. My but you are an interesting find," Ranshao said, bronze eyes glinting in the light.

"I don't know what you mean. I came from a carnival, I know some tricks. I guess I didn't think it was anything special," Shen said.

"Don't try to con a conman boy," Ranshao said. Though his words were harsh he sounded amused. "I'm no fool. You're an Airbender. And you don't know where to find the others. Which means you weren't raised by them. Do you know how rare that is? It's almost completely unheard of. No, I take that back, it isn't 'almost' unheard of, it is unheard of. You my friend, are an entirely unique creature. An Airbender unindoctrinated by the monks. Sure, a few go bad but almost none ever do."

"I don't understand why that makes you so excited," Shen said. "And does it truly change very much? I'm still going to find my people."

"My boy, why ever would you want to do that?" Ranshao asked, and he sounded genuinely surprised.

"Uh, because they're _my people_," Shen said, as if speaking to a very dumb man. Ranshao's eyes flashed, and Shen took a step back. "And I'm having a little...problem. I'm sure they're the only ones able to help."

"You mean the trouble you're having with your bending?" Ranshao asked. Shen gaped at the older man, how had he known. "I told you, I'm no fool boy. I've learned to _look_ at my surroundings. To _see_ what's happening around me. I'm smart, and observant. Few things escape me. If you learn nothing else from me, learn that. Most people just look to the ends of their noses and that's as far as they get. I look _deeper_. That's how I know you're almost unable to call the wind."

"What do you know about Airbending?" Shen asked defensively.

"Almost nothing. But I am a proficient bender, probably one of the best you'll ever meet," Ranshao boasted.

"Even if that were true, I don't see how you could help," Shen said. "Earthbending is Airbending's opposite. The philosophies behind it, the very nature of it, is the antithesis to me."

"Boy, I told you to _observe_. Now contrary to your recent behavior, I know you aren't dumb. I know you saw my eyes, and I think you know what that means," Ranshao said. He took a breath in, raised his palm, and a torch-like jet of flame flew, barely moving past Ranshao's fingers. Just enough to make the point. "I'm no Earthbender," Ranshao smiled.

"Wh-what is a _Firebender_ doing living in an Earthbender city?" Shen asked, his face white with shock. It wasn't that it was unexpected (though it was) the Fire Nation was notorious for having few ex-patriots or immigrants. They kept themselves to themselves unless forced not to, like for trade.

"That is none of your concern. The point is I can help you with your bending," Ranshao said.

"How? Does Firebending give you insight into bending that others don't have?" Shen asked skeptically.

"No. But have you ever noticed how similar our two elements are?" Ranshao asked.

"Similar? That's insane," Shen said.

"Quite the contrary. We both have access to our element anywhere but where there is no air. Both our elements are tied to our nature in fundamental ways. Even the stances share certain superficial similarities," Ranshao said. "Air is the fuel of fire. Firebenders use their inner heat to ignite the air around them, and then bend that fire. Airbenders control the air, weave it, shape it to their will, bending it. I saw you using a breathing technique to connect more fully to the air during your little 'act.' I think there's a lot we could do for each other," Ranshao said.

"I'm still not seeing how. I want to learn the Air Nomad way, that's why I want to find them," Shen said. "It's where I belong."

"How do you know? You haven't seen another Airbender your whole life, and you think you'll be able to just waltz back into their culture? For all the talk of how 'free' they are, they're the most regimented and controlled nation on the planet. Why would you want to submit to that?" Ranshao asked.

"Because I have no one else!" Shen snapped. The trauma of the marauder attack, kept stuffed down as much as he could, reared its head inside Shen's chest and he had to bite his lip to stop tears from forming in his eyes. "I have no family anymore! Nowhere to go!"

"But that's not true," Ranshao said, and Shen could almost swear there was pity in those cold eyes. "I have a family. One I've already invited you to join. Come, join me fully Shen. You passed the test I set before you with flying colors. Do you know what we could accomplish if we worked together?" Ranshao asked.

"I'm still not sure," Shen said, quietly, but it was so tempting. To be part of something bigger than himself again, it was what he'd been searching for. He just wanted to stop running, to have a place he could call his own.

"Stay with me Shen, and I promise you'll never be alone again," Ranshao said. He smiled, and Shen walked up to him quickly. Ranshao pulled him into his embrace quickly, before Shen could see the glee in his smile rather than the warmth the lonely young man had believed he saw. Ranshao patted the back of Shen's head. "You're home now son."

The next eight months passed by in a blur for Shen. He spent two months straight with Ranshao, listening to his new teacher's edicts and teachings. The elder bender taught him much about bending principle. It was not entirely new to Shen, Jung had had to rely almost entirely on abstract fundamentals to empart anything to Shen when he was training himself to Airbend, but Ranshao had a definitively new twist to things.

He taught Shen about the connection between breath, body, and will. How to push the power from the lungs and out through the body into the world around you. Shen learned that while this technique lacked the ability to do fine movements of air, and in fact almost seemed to impede his technique in some of his skills, new ones opened up to him.

While he could no longer gather the air around himself to soften his landings, his jumps were more powerful than ever with the compressed air strikes Ranshao taught him. He learned to time it so that he could send himself hurling up to the sky, then when he came down send a series of blasts at the ground, slowing his fall.

These compressed air strikes were also very useful in combat. They allowed Shen to send 'punches' of compressed air strong enough to rip wooden boxes apart. Though he had trouble, Shen once again learned how to do the dust cloud trick, through a series of wide sweeps of air-jets that blew the dust particles violently into the air.

By sending the jets along his arms, legs, hands and feet he developed a kind of close-up air technique that had one application. Battle. Though he spent so much time with Ranshao, the Firebender refused to reveal anything new about himself. The only things Shen learned were that he'd left the Fire Nation in a great hurry, and that he would never return.

He also learned that Di was Ranshao's commander of the boys. Di tested them, commanded them, and punished them should they falter. "You really had me fooled," Shen told him a few weeks into the new training. He was feeling good, it was the first air-jet he'd managed, and the first time the other boys allowed him to sit in their circle. Before they'd all turned their backs if he approached, and he'd eaten alone almost every night.

"It's all about the plan," Di revealed. "We do our parts and everything goes perfectly. Ranshao is a genius tactician, and he's able to do his business almost completely under the Taku Guard's noses."

"What kind of business?" Shen asked.

"Oh, all kinds. He imports a lot, but the people he uses don't like to just openly hand stuff to him, especially because the Taku Guard inspect everything. They're corrupt, they take some of the most valuable pieces, and with the taxes from the city it's hard for anyone to make an honest living here. It doesn't help that Ranshao isn't Earth Kingdom, the guards sometimes 'find' his crates broken, we have to do everything we can to help him stay afloat," Di said.

After Shen mastered air-jets Ranshao put him back to work. "I don't keep freeloaders," he said. "If you want to be part of this family you earn it."

Shen had happily gone to work. A lot of the business Ranshao did was to have innocuous looking things stored in other merchant's shops. He would then have the boys 'steal' these items. The merchants couldn't take the stigma of being associated with him. From there they carted the goods to Ranshao, who was able to do his business in peace. Sometimes crates would come in, and the boys would have to smuggle them to the docks where they were picked up.

Shen's job was as a distraction. He would do his juggling trick, always 'escaping' in a cloud of dust after it was done. This was also usually done in front of a shop that Di and the boys were targeting, making it easier for them to join the crowd in the aftermath.

Shen walked up the street. Di was a little ahead of him, and the other boys were scattered among the crowd. He'd kept in the habit of shaving his head before each job, which happened weeks, sometimes months apart. When he walked around Taku, getting to know the place, it was always after he'd let a little fuzz grow up first. He didn't want anyone recognizing him.

They came to the shop and Shen eyed the sun. He'd start his performance in ten minutes and five after that he'd be giving the escape cloud life. He pulled out the three scarves. Two were the old ones from the circus, the third was a red silk one Ranshao had given him on the day of his first 'performance' with Di and the others. It had a dragon outlined in yellow thread on it.

Shen threw them in the air, and the now familiar sight drew a crowd. Shen saw Di out of the corner of his eye as he slipped inside the shop, the patrons hurrying to the windows and the doorway to see the show. The familiar rain of copper pieces began. Shen wouldn't bother to pick up more than were in easy reach, leaving a very small fortune behind when he left. A rumour was going around that he was raising awareness of homelessness. Another one said he was soft in the head.

The scarves did their familiar trick as Shen commanded the air. It hadn't returned to the ease and naturalness of his youth, but he was no longer struggling to conjure a faint breeze, so progress! Shen was nearing the end of his routine when he saw a guard walk past. The guard glanced at the show, then shouldered his way inside the shop. It was the older man, the one who hadn't been fooled by Di or the others.

Shen panicked. A spike of fear went through him, and he sent the scarves up in a blast of air from both fists. He sent a jet of air at the ground, vaulting himself over the startled crowd. He grabbed the upper lip of the doorway to the shop and threw himself between the shoulders of two startled patrons.

"Young man what are you doing?" the storekeeper said. The guard turned, just before his would have caught sight of Di, whose eyes were wide and scared. Shen struck a pose, putting the red scarf (the only one he'd missed, and had instinctively grabbed from the air) over his mouth.

"Why I'm here to rob you of course!" Shen said. He looked around desperately and spotted an atrocious monkey statue with jeweled eyes. Its teeth were bared in a snarl and something about it made him uneasy. Nevertheless he snatched it up, blew a raspberry at the startled shopkeeper and patrons, then (with a jet of air to assist him) vaulted out the way he'd come in.

"Stop! Bandit!" the aging guard shouted, but he was unable to shoulder his way past the patrons crowded in the door fast enough. "Stop that bald bandit!" he yelled at the crowd.

Shen snatched his other scarves from the ground and dodged a man who tried to wrap his arms around him. The younger man weaved, keeping his back to the man's back as he tried to turn around and snatch Shen. The airbender kicked off the man's back just as another man, this one with twin swords, advanced.

Sending a blast of air at the ground Shen rocketed up to the roof of the shop across the street. "My apologies, but this bald bandit is going to have to make an exit! Thank you for your generous contributions, they were much appreciated!" Shen said. The crowd seemed trapped between confusion, anger, and hysterical laughter.

Shen sent another jet through his legs, rocketing up as he propelled himself forward, leaping between the streets. Two blocks over he came down in an alleyway, ripping the red scarf from his face and staring at the monkey. He had no idea why he'd held onto it, and considered chucking it away, but if nothing else he didn't want to waste it. He tucked the statue into his tunic.

The walk back was long and painful. Shen flinched every time he saw a Taku Guard, and he pulled his reed hat low over his head so they couldn't see his baldness. He made it back to Lady Ushima's house and met Di, who was white faced and shaking as soon as he saw the other boy.

"What was that?" he hissed as soon as he'd pulled Shen bodily inside.

"I'm sorry, the guard was going inside and I didn't know what else to do, I made a spectacle of myself so you could get away," Shen said.

"I would have thought of something! Now you've put this whole enterprise at risk!" Di said. "Ranshao is going to kill you!"

"There you are," Lady Ushima said, her voice cutting through the chatter like a foghorn. She imperiously pointed the wooden spoon at Shen, porridge dripping off it. "Go to Ranshao's. And bring the monkey." Shen nodded, and waved weakly to Di. The young thief just shrugged in return.

When Shen made it to Ranshao's shop he took a deep breath in, then out. It did little to calm his nerves. He steeled himself then pushed aside the curtain, walking into the back room. Ranshao was in the meditation position, candles lit around him.

"Do you know what you've done today boy?" Ranshao asked. His voice was steady, but the candles flared in brightness and intensity for a moment.

"I've failed you Ranshao," Shen said. He felt hollow, and all he wanted to do was please the man in the fire circle. "I'll gladly accept any punishment you give me." Ranshao surprised him, he opened his eyes and studied Shen.

"Tell me exactly what happened," Ranshao said, his voice still calm. The candles flared again, so Shen quickly spoke. He explained everything, holding up the monkey when he got to that point in the story as if to prove its existence. "So, you robbed my business partner, but it was in order to save the mission," Ranshao said. Shen nodded, ears burning and face downcast. "This may have been for the best," Ranshao said, and Shen could almost hear the gears grinding in the Firebender's head.

"In what way?" Shen whispered, barely daring to hope.

"It worked, and spectacularly. The Guard will be looking for the 'Bald Bandit' instead of the boys. They'll attribute anything missing to you and your expert casing of the places you steal from. Shen, if you follow me I'll make you a legend in the underworld!" Ranshao said. His voice had reached a fever pitch. "It'll be the greatest con I"ve ever pulled! I'll be rich after this! Everyone will be so busy looking at you they won't think to look for my hand in these thefts!"

"So I'm not in trouble?" Shen asked.

"Not at all! I'm proud of you Shen. You're finally doing what I taught you, looking past your own nose and _looking_," Ranshao said. Shen swelled with pride and handed over the monkey. "Oh, you can put that over there," Ranshao gestured dismissively at it, and Shen put it on a shelf. "Ugly thing, but it'll have to live here for a while until they stop looking for it. Couldn't you have taken anything less distinctive?"

The next four weeks Shen felt both closest to the boy he'd been, and further away from anything he'd ever known. The Bald Bandit plagued Taku. Things would be quiet for weeks at a time, then he would show up, red scarf knotted over his face. Shen was no longer able to leave as 'himself.' His bald head would be too much of a giveaway. Instead when not leading the Taku Guard through ever increasingly elaborate chases he would get special food and things delivered by Di.

Sometimes he was smuggled out to Ranshao's, where the two would gleefully hatch plans and new stunts for Shen to pull, it was almost like being back in the circus. Except for the fear Shen saw in people's eyes when he sent air jets at them, or the anger in the Taku Guard's faces when they chased and ultimately failed to catch him. His happiness and excitement soared when he was with Ranshao, or out putting on the 'show.' But when he was trapped in the house he grew ever more languid.

"What do you have to be so sad about?" Di asked him once, "You get to have fun dodging the Guard, leaping around while we do all the work. Here's your sweetbun, I hope you choke on it!"

"You're just jealous you aren't the favorite anymore!" Shen shouted back, but he didn't leave his mat to escalate the matter. His thoughts just sank deeper into the haze he had every time he had a moment to think.

A week after this exchange, Shen was taken to Ranshao's for their weekly planning session. Shen 'attacked' every few days now, he'd been ramping up, and Ranshao wanted the next show to be a spectacle.

Shen was deposited inside the back of Ranshao's shop. Another crate was filling most of the space, but this one was moving and making small chuffing noises. Shen curiously lifted the lid and peered inside. Brown eyes peered back, and a fuzzy-faced animal looked up out of the darkness.

The thing was poofy, and about the size of a half-grown Platypus-Bear. It had six legs, and a flattened tail. The stumps of horns poked out of its head, and the white fur was mixed with brown forming an arrow on its forehead.

The thing's tongue was lolling out, and a line of drool was falling from there to the bottom of the crate. "Hey you," Shen said, reaching out his hand. The thing nuzzled the bars with its large black nose, and the tongue came up and licked, catching Shen's fingers through the bars. Shen laughed, this thing was cute, if a bit slobbery. "Hey fella, what are you doing here?" Shen asked.

"Get away from the merchandise," Ranshao barked, pulling the curtain between the showroom and the back room.

"Sorry," Shen said, lifting his hand. "What is it?"

"It's a Skybison," Ranshao said. "I'm surprised it's being so friendly, it keeps trying to shake it's way out of the cage whenever I or anyone else gets near it. Though I guess it isn't _that _surprising, considering."

"Considering what?" Shen asked.

"Well, you two are practically brothers. The Air Nomads use tamed Skybison to get around. They fly. They also make excellent steaks, and are a rare delicacy in the Fire Nation. They can't be imported officially, so it's up to people like me to do it," Ranshao said.

"You're going to sell that Skybison for meat?" Shen asked. His stomach dropped. He hadn't even heard of Skybison before this moment, but thinking of the animal's large brown eyes, he coulnd't imagine a worse fate.

"Of course, what of it?" Ranshao asked.

"You can't! It's a living thing! It's beautiful!" Shen shouted. Ranshao got a dangerous look in his eye.

"Shen, what I do with my products is none of your concern. Let's just plan the next even and we'll have you out of here in a short while," Ranshao said.

"Wait, Ranshao let _me_ buy it from you! I feel connected to it somehow, it's part of my heritage," Shen said.

"Please," Ranshao scoffed, "It's a filthy animal that you just learned about! There's no connection! No heritage! Your only heritage is me, and my business. That's all you should care for, understand? You aren't an Air Nomad, you're _my_ Airbender, and I won't have ridiculous notions like this getting in the way. Now, let's plan."

Shen waited until everyone was asleep at Lady Ushima's house, then snuck out the door. He navigated the streets with ease, his hat pulled low over his head. Whenever he heard a Taku Guard patrol he leapt to a roof until they were gone. He was back at Ranshao's in no time, and he landed with a thump outside the door.

The crate with the Skybison was still there, shaking as the calf tried to knock the bars from their housing. Shen stole down and opened the cage door. The Skybison calf got up, supporting itself with its back legs and tail, its large head peering over the lid of the crage.

"C'mon boy, let's get you out of here," Shen said. The Skybison, drool running down its chin, licked him across his face. "Ugh, that's gross! Stop it with the slobber and let's go!" Shen whispered. He led the Skybison out to the alley and stopped. The Skybison, which had followed him at his heel, made a chuffing sound.

Now that it was out of the cage, Shen could see that it was bigger than he'd thought. It almost came up to his shoulder when it was standing, and the horns looked much larger in the moonlight. Suddenly her felt trepidation.

"Well, you're free now. Get going," Shen said. The Skybison didn't move, it only stared at him, a line of drool dripping from its chin hairs. "I said git!" Shen said, waving his arm. The bison suddenly lunged forward, faster than Shen could react. Shen was pinned under its front and middle paws, the finger-like appendages holding him in place. "Hey! Let me go!" Shen said, holding up his arms from the attack he was sure was coming for his head. Instead he felt his sleeves dampen, and something pulled on them. He opend his eyes as some drool fell on his face.

"Oh, nasty," Shen said. The tongue descended once more and the adolescent Skybison gave him a large lick. "Hey slobber-boy you can't stay here with me! If my boss finds you I'm toast," Shen said.

He extricated himself from the bison then backed away. "Go on now, get going," Shen said, waving his arms. The Skybison made a deep sound, somewhere between a keen and a roar as it watched Shen retreat. "Sorry, but I just can't take the risk. Maybe I'll see you around sometime," Shen said.

The next day a heat awoke him. Shen yelped and sat up, tangled in his mat. Ranshao, the boys cowering around him, was standing over Shen, fire in his hands and eyes. Shen scrambled up and away as a small whip-like tongue of flame nipped at his feet.

"You! Do you know what you cost me boy!" Ranshao yelled, bringing the fire-whip down again.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Shen shouted.

"Oh you don't? It wouldn't have anything to do with my missing bison floating above your roof would it?" Ranshao snarled.

"It's not like that!" Shen said desperately. He looked at the other boys, who were looking both fearful of Ranshao, and happy at Shen's disgrace. "I'll pay you back! I'm just not comfortable with…" he didn't finish. The fire-whip came down again, this time aimed directly at Shen's head.

His bald pate exploded with pain and Shen howeled. "I've told you once, I've told you a number of times, I'm no fool!" Ranshao shouted. "When the Fire Nation shipping guild discovered I was smuggling they dragged me before a judge! I challanged him to an Agni Kai over the allegations, and slipped out while they prepared it! I know when to fade into the night, but I am also no stranger to violence. It's this intelligence that keeps me free today! AND YOU JUST JEOPARDISED THAT FREEDOM!" Ranshao shouted.

"Please," Shen whispered, holding a hand over the burn on his head. Ranshao ignored him, and brought the whip down again. Shen reacted out of instinct, raising his hands quickly, breathing in then out just as fast.

As if guided by his breath the wind howled around his hands, slamming into Ranshao and blasting him back. The whip was extinguished. Shen froze, hands outstretched. He hadn't meant to bend, but it had happened. Ranshao's bronze eyes glittered as he staggered to his feet. Twin flames burst around his fists and formed daggers. He slowly advanced on Shen, the hairs blown loose from his topknot dancing in the scant breeze his march generaged.

"Please," Shen said.

"I never explained what happens to troublemakers here did I?" Ranshao asked. "Well you're about to get an object lesson." He swung his hands around, the fire knives coming right for Shen's face.

Shen twisted out of the way, his agility moving him before his mind could catch up. He leapt up and away, hitting the ground right outside the door and blasting through it with his body. "You won't run from me!" Ranshao shouted, and Shen heard the Firebender's running steps following him.

He leapt into the air, sending a jet of air down. It happened to catch Ranshao as he burst out of the house and flattened the man to the ground. Ranshao howled, and Shen grabbed desperately for the roof. A set of blunted herbivore teeth clamped down on Shen's wrist, being as gentle as they could be while still maintaining a grip. The Skybison brought Shen up to the roof and slapped its tail against the roof, tongue flicking out for a lick.

"Thanks slobber," Shen said. He looked down, and immediately pulled back. A jet of flame blasted through where Shen's head had been a moment before and Shen leapt to the bison's back. "Let's go!" Shen said, and the bison leapt forward. It slapped its tail and a strong breeze was pulled up, slowing the duo's fall as they fell to the street.

Shen leapt from the bison's back and the two started running, the bison taking large strides that were more like floating leaps. Ranshao yelled and was after them, sending blasts of fire in their direction. He'd gone completely insane, so focused on the task at hand that he didn't realize what he was doing.

People screamed and leapt out of their way as Shen and the Skybison barrelled through the streets. "Can you get us up to the roofs?" Shen asked desperately. The bison looked at him, and Shen climbed on.

The bison slapped its tail again, and the two shot to the rooftops. Suddenly there was a rumble, and Shen looked back in time to see Ranshao leap over a suddenly appearing earthen barricade as it tried to hem the Firebender in. Ranshao ignored the Taku Guard as they closed in on him, sending jet after jet of fire in Shen's direction.

Suddenly there was a deep bass roar that shook the air, and a wave of air whapped Ranshao in the face. Shen gasped and looked up to see a full grown Skybison falling out of the sky, its tail returning to flying position. A robed figure was on its back, and Shen didn't stick around to find out more.

As the bison descended toward the Firebender and the Taku Guard, Shen and the adolescent bison leapt down from the building. He wove through the streets, not caring whether the Air Nomad, the Guard, or the bison were following him. He made it through barricades by air-leaping over them, and finally came to the edge of the city. He sprinted out into the dusty wastes, using jets of air to keep him moving quickly, until he couldn't run anymore.

Shen collapsed to the ground, panting air into his lungs. He looked around and the adolescent Skybison was sitting behind him, at a loose form of attention. It was still drooling. "Go away!" Shen shouted. The Skybison sat impassively, staring at Shen with its large brown eyes. "I said leave! You just cost me the only chance of family I have left!" Shen shouted.

The Skybison ambled forward, far more awkward on the ground than in the air, and tackled him again. Shen was too weak to throw the bison off. It started licking him again, drowning him in slobber.

"That's so gross," Shen said, halfheartedly trying to push the animal off. But it was impossible, and eventually the bison's enthusiasm made Shen cheer up, if only a bit. "Okay you fluffy slobber-monster, that's really enough," Shen said, and the bison backed away, but only enough so that Shen could sit up. He placed his chin on Shen's shoulder and looked at the boy out of the corner of his brown eyes.

"Alright. I've made some pretty bad choices the last few months," Shen said. "But what do I do about them?"

The bison didn't answer, and Shen sighed. "I should turn myself in to the guard. I wonder if I could meet the Air Nomad before I get imprisoned for life?"

"If you look up, you'll find you have," a voice said. Shen jumped to his feet, searching wildly around him. "I said, 'look up' the voice said. Shen did, and saw a larger version of his companion sinking toward the ground. A bald man with an arrow tattoo and orange robes was hanging off one of its feet.

"Hello," Shen said. He found he couldn't meet the Air Nomad's gaze.

"Hello yourself young one," the man said, dismounting his bison and walking lightly toward Shen. His only weapon was a long staff that was as tall as he was. "So," the nomad said as he settled into a lotus position next to Shen, his staff draped across his legs, "You are the rogue Airbender we've been hearing about the last few weeks. This is a lucky coincidence for me you know, because I was also supposed to find out what happened to the stolen calf," the nomad smiled serenely at Shen.

"Okay," Shen said, sitting down across from the nomad. "Why aren't you attacking me?"

"For one, it is not the Air Nomad way," the nomad said. "Also, I've been listening to you since you got out here, and I'm encouraged by what I hear. You wish to take responsibility for your actions. That shows the heart of a true Air Nomad, underneath all the stealing and chicanery," the nomad said.

"Can I really be a 'rogue' Air Nomad if I was never a nomad?" Shen asked.

"An interesting question young one, and I'm afraid I don't have an answer. Perhaps I will, if you tell me about yourself." Shen found it was easy to do so, telling the nomad about the circus, about the marauders and Jung. How his father had been killed by the dead-eyed Tozoku, and of becoming the 'Bald Bandit.'

"Well, that is certainly a story," the Air Nomad said.

"I knew you wouldn't believe me," Shen said. "I'm just going to let you take me. Do whatever you want to me."

"I would take you back to the Northern Air Temple. Your fate can be decided there, if you wish it to be," the Air Nomad said. "But it is your choice. You may certainly turn yourself over to the authorities if you wish."

"Isn't that just letting be get away with everything I've done? I feel like there should be consequences," Shen said.

"It is because you feel that way I would take you to the Temple. And don't get me wrong, you will be punished," the Air Nomad said. "I am Samayo, and this is Horo," he added, pointing to the adult bison. "What's this little fella's name?" he asked, tickling the adolescent Skybison under the chin. The bison snorted and licked the Airbender's hand.

"Shouldn't you know?" Shen asked.

"How would I? He's chosen you to be his rider and companion. Skybison are partners for life you know," Samayo said.

"Slobber," Shen decided, looking at the line of drool coming from the adolescent Skybison's mouth. "His names Slobber. And we'll follow you back to the Airtemple."

"Very good. I'm afraid Slobber isn't old enough to carry you, so hop onto Horo," Samayou said. Shen did so, feeling his heart lift, even as his stomach dropped. He was, after all these years, going to an Airtemple. If only he knew what would happen when he arrived.

**Author's Note: So it's been a while! Sorry about the wait, I started my Junior year of college right after I posted the second chapter, and between that and my own original work I've neglected this fic. But it's the longest chapter, so hopefully that makes up for it, in some small way. We're nearing the end of Shen's journey. There's two more chapters left, I don't want to draw it out too long and I have a specific ending in mind even if it's not written. Neither chapter is written, but I think I'll be done with it all by the end of the calendar year, if not sooner. They will be called 'The Northern Airtemple' and 'Ratviper' respectively. Please review! I can't get better if I don't know what I'm doing wrong/ right! ~ LB **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N I don't own A:TLA, I just want to play in the world for a while. Hope you enjoy!**

The cold wind blasted across Shen's body and he startled awake with a snort, wiping a line of drool from his mouth as he did so. Samayou chuckled and gestured for Shen to join him on Horo's enormous head.

"Here, take the reins," Samayou said, and Shen furrowed his brow in confusion. Had the monk taken leave of his senses? The entire reason he and Shen had met was because Shen had been using Airbending to help a smuggling operation! And they were even now flying to the Northern Air Temple so that judgment could be passed onto Shen. "As you have willingly followed me, I feel safe in giving you chances young one. Not all are as stubborn as the people of the Earth Kingdom, seeing only one side. From what I have learned of you, I doubt you will try to steal Horo and push me off. In fact, if you did I would be in no danger," Samayou said.

Shen was about to make a comment when the Airbender fluidly and completely unexpectedly leapt from the bison's head. Shen felt his heart hammer, thoughts of the consequences of being accused of murdering an Air Nomad flying through his head. Samayou grabbed his staff as he fell past Horo's head, and then he was gone. Shen scrambled to the edge of the large bison's skull and gripped one of her horns in a death-grip. He saw nothing.

A yell caught Shen's attention and he turned to see Samayou cresting out of a cloudbank, hanging from a large fan-like contraption. He did a loop the loop and then a roll as he fell past Shen's line of sight and under Horo's large body, before appearing again on the other side. He drifted up and back to the large head, touching down again next to Shen.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Shen shouted as Samayou's robes swirled in the headwind created by Horo.

"My apologies young one," Samayou said, but the large grin on the man's face made Shen doubt he was sorry at all. "I wanted to demonstrate both how unconcerned I am by the chance of falling, and to show you how good it is when you are one with the air."

"Must be nice. I remember feeling that way sometimes, but it's been a while," Shen said.

"I did notice you having trouble while you were fleeing that Firebender. Have you any idea why?" Samayou asked.

"None," Shen said morosely. He looked away from Samayou and let the wind whistle through the stubble of his hair.

"How is Slobber doing?" Samayou asked, and Shen looked back. The calf had been content to ride on Horo's tail through much of the journey but had been becoming restless with the long flight. He was now flying in an awkward fashion, trailing behind and slightly above the older bison.

"He looks alright," Shen said, watching as a line of drool fell from Slobber's lolling tongue. The calf noticed him watching and waved his first two paws underneath him, pumping his flat tail at the same time. The furry missile shot forward, coming level with Horo's head for a long moment, then falling back again. Slobber let out a high pitched sound similar to Horo's deep moan.

"He's playful," Samayou said, smiling widely at the young bison.

"Yeah. If nothing else I'm glad I got him out of that cage," Shen said.

"I am as well. I was beginning to think I would have to let his fate go where it would," Samayou said.

"You would have stopped searching?" Shen asked.

"Logic dictates that at some point he would have been transported out of the city and any reasonable expectation of recovery. I was nearing the point where I thought I would never intersect with his path," Samayou said, frowning slightly.

"Oh. How long until we get to the Northern Air Temple?" he asked.

"Not long. A few hours at most. Now do you want to learn the basics of steering or do you want to stew in your juices for a little longer?" Samyou asked.

"Steer," Shen said, after considering for a long moment. Samyou handed Shen the reins and began to instruct him on how to handle a Skybison.

Horo, Samayou, Shen and Slobber touched down on a large platform that was almost a stone clearing among the large buildings. Shen had been watching since the temple came into view and even his spiking fear couldn't override the awe he felt in seeing the enormous monastery.

The towers rose into the wind, neither seeming part of the mountain they were based on yet not entirely apart either. The spires fit harmoniously into the craggy mountain's face but they were too obviously man-made to be anything but the work of humans. Shen was reminded of Taku, though this place fit a little less seamlessly. He supposed that with the Earthbender's natural affinity for earthen colors this was expected.

What he hadn't expected were the small copses of trees that huddled between walls and buildings, and that while there were plazas like the one he and Samyou were alighting on, there were also many gardens. Flying lemurs wove among the tops of the spires and hung in the air, and as they'd come in Shen had realized some of the figures weren't monkeys. They'd been people.

A crowd of bald robed men and boys were gathering around the plaza as Samyou calmly slid down Horo's side and Slobber wheeled above them by a few feet. Shen waved his arm and the bison calf stopped cavorting and reluctantly sank to the ground. Shen slid off Horo's back as Samyou finished speaking to a boy a few years older than he. The boy was bald as the rest, though unlike Samyou and the other older men he didn't have tattoos. None of the young ones did either.

"I thought all Air Nomads had tattoos," Shen whispered to Samyou.

"Only those that have mastered the thirty-six tiers of Airbending," Samyou said. "I only recently earned my tattoos."

"The council is read to receive you," the boy that Samyou had sent ahead said, running back in large strides. The throng parted as Samyou walked through the crowd. Shen and Slobber hurried to keep up as Samyou led them up set after set of stairs.

By the time they'd reached the top of the temple Shen was out of breath, and Slobber was trailing behind. Shen felt a pang of jealousy looking at Samyou, who was breathing just as he had at the bottom of the steps and didn't even look as though he'd sweated!

"We're here," Samyou said and gestured for Shen to walk in first. Shen took a deep breath of air into his lungs. It tasted clearer than any air he could remember and seemed to fill him with a calm he'd never before experienced. He pulled back the curtain and walked inside.

On a series of cushions sat four Airbenders. Their robes were similar to Samyou's except that they were more elaborate, with long pieces of orange fabric trailing off them. The shawls were closer to cloaks and the robes were less contained, making it look harder to walk. One had a parisol opened above him, as if he expected it to rain in the closed tower. Though as Shen noticed the large windows with no glass he supposed it might be possible for rain to get in.

He bowed in the style of the Earth Kingdom as he came to a stop in front of the old men. Their eyes were all varying shades of grey as they looked at him, and one angry looking one looked as though he had a stormcloud swirling in his eyes. Samyou stepped up, taking a place slightly in front of Shen and clasped his fists together as he bowed. The arrow tattoos on the backs of his hands pointed at each other.

"Who is this boy?" the angry looking one asked.

"This is the rogue Airbender we've been hearing so much about Master Arashi," Samyou said pleasantly. He sounded as if he were introducing two friends and Shen wanted to wince. He didn't think 'Master Arashi' would take that well.

"I see. I don't recognize him and I don't remember hearing of anyone leaving the order in a long time. I'd thought the rumors were being exaggerated for effect," Arashi said.

"Apparently they were not. Young Shen here did us a service though, he found our missing Skybison calf," Samyou said.

"Intriguing. What was he doing when he found the calf?" Arashi asked.

"I was working for a smuggler, though I didn't know it at the time," Shen said. His voice was humble but his words rang through the large chamber.

"What? Who are you, and why were you...I would hear the full tale, from as close to the beginning as you can," Arashi said, his thunderous eyes narrowing. Samyou told Shen's tale, detailing his loss from the Nomads and his subsequent time in the circus. Then the Marauder attack, and finally how he ended up as the Bald Bandit. The elders' expressions didn't change as they listened to the story, and Arashi only stroked his beard at certain points.

"And then I found him. He has expressed the urge to be punished for his deeds," Samyou said.

"It is not our way to punish those. Do you wish to be taken back to the Earth Kingdom to get a ruling in a court?" Arashi asked.

"Please sir, I will if I must but I want to be judged by my own people. It has been a long time since I stood in these halls, and I wish to know of you, even if it's from a prison cell," Shen said.

"The Air Nomads are not judges boy. We are monks, we let the universe blow us as it may and follow its breeze. If you wish to stay and find redemption you may do so here. But your situation is unprecedented. I have no wish to train an Airbending mercenary, so until we are sure that you won't abuse our teachings you may not leave this temple, even with another Air Nomad. You will learn our ways, and only after you have mastered our teachings and the bending arts will you gain your freedom under our seal. You may leave at any time, but if you do you will be banished from the Air Nomads, never to return to our temples or learn our ways. Do you understand?" Arashi asked.

"I do," Shen said. "Thank you."

"Learn, live and be happy," Arashi said. "But be warned, we will not tolerate violence here. If you harm others or disrupt the lives we lead, you will be banished. You are on a thin rope, do not teeter off." Shen nodded and was led out by Samyou.

"That went better than I expected," Samyou said as he led Shen down the spiral stairs.

"What do you mean?" Shen asked as he drew level so he and Samyou could speak easier.

"I expected him to summon a thunderbolt and strike you down where you stood," Samyou mused.

"What!?" Shen shouted. "Why would you lead me here if it was just to be…" he trailed off as Samyou laughed hard enough he almost tripped. The Nomad only kept his feet by leaning heavily on his staff. "What?" Shen asked.

"We can't summon thunderbolts! Who do you think we are, Firebenders? I was messing with you," Samyou said. "You'll have to loosen up a little if you expect to fit in around here.

"I didn't think you would be 'loose,'" Shen admitted as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

"We're the nation of freedom Shen, we have fun around here," Samyou said. He led Shen to another tower and they met a younger monk, around Shen's age. "Sung here will show you to your room. You'll wake up tomorrow and begin your official Airbending training. Won't that be fun?"

"That quickly?" Shen asked.

"What, did you want to lie around for a week? You'll have some proper robes in the dormitories and a staff waiting for you. I think you'll learn to glide in a few weeks, after you master the basics," Samyou said. "Now I'm off. I've got to feed Horo and brush her down otherwise she'll be cranky all night," Samyou said. "Good luck."

Shen was led to a room and was glad to see it was private. He'd expected to have to room with a bunch of boys, which wouldn't have been new but in a place like this it made him nervous. Two sets of yellow tunics, brown pants and boots and orange shawls were piled on the bed as well as sheets. No blankets though, and in the cold from the glass and shutterless windows he shivered slightly. Not that he was unused to cold. A carved staff was leaning upright against the bed and Shen took it.

The wood was warm, as if it had just been let go of by its last holder and the wood was smooth. It had been carved, but Shen could tell that many hands had touched it from the softness of the wood. He spun it experimentally and dropped it when a fan of orange cloth held together with thin struts sprang out. The glider clattered to the ground and Shen picked it up. He was supposed to fly with this?

He put it down and pulled it closed with his hands then set the staff against the wall. The room was small, big enough for his bed and a small desk. He slumped down into the bed and fell into a deep sleep.

The next day he woke up to a bell clattering and quickly slipped on a set of robes. The room was cold and Shen felt as though his nose had frozen off in the night. He rushed out and followed the crowd of teenage boys to the dining room, where dozens of monks were eating. Some were doling out bowls of porridge, others were chopping up fruit. Shen's stomach growled and he quickly got some porridge for himself.

A lemur glided through the room and Shen quickly covered his bowl, but none of the other monks even seemed to notice as they tucked into their food. Shen quickly ate then asked one of the boys where the 'basic lessons' were being held. The boy looked at him for a moment then gave him directions.

When Shen arrived puffing twenty minutes later all the other students were there. They were also all between seven and nine.

"I'm sorry, I think I'm in the wrong place," Shen said, he started to turn ears burning when the older Air Nomad spoke up.

"You are the newest addition to the temple yes? You are Shen, I was told to expect you," the older man said, his iron gray beard wagging as he smiled. Some of the kids giggled as Shen took a place near the back of the small clump they formed. "For the new student, I am Monk Heiwa. Today we will be practicing the breeze pull technique. This is partially inspired by Waterbenders from the South Pole and allows you to feel your connection to the air around you."

The students all stood, as did Shen. He sank into Horse Stance, feet shoulder-width apart and knees bent. He felt rooted to the earth, connected. It was how Jung had started every training session. But looking around Shen realized the other students weren't doing what he was doing. They stood with their feet slightly apart, one in front of the other but placed wide for balance.

"I want you to take in a deep breath. Let the air flow through you, become a part of you," Monk Heiwa said. His nostrils flared as he breathed in deeply. Shen breathed in, slightly out of sync with the rest of the class. He felt the clear air fill his lungs, and for a moment felt a stirring all around him. "Now pull the air around you. Keep your wrists and elbows fluid and make a circular motion with your lower arms. Spread your fingers so that your chi can be dispersed evenly and become one with the breeze."

A dozen puffs of air flowed through the group of young Airbenders as they followed Monk Heiwa's instructions. The wind seemed to caress each young monk as it flowed around their bodies, spreading as it passed their waving hands. Shen tried to grasp the air, tried to feel it, and for a moment it was his, then it trickled away like water through fingers. The breeze didn't stir for him.

Shen frowned and bit his lip. He reached further, digging deep into himself, bringing up his warmth as Ranshao had taught him. He channelled the energy up his body from his stomach and thrust his fists forward. A short blast of air careened from his fists, a circle of force that impacted a tree that had grown over the lip of the ridge that the young monks were practicing on. The leaves were shaken from the tree. Shen brought his arms back to do it again, then realized everyone was staring at him.

"What?" he asked. Hadn't he done something similar to what they did? He might not have followed the directions that Monk Heiwa had given but he'd made the wind move at least.

"That is...not how we wish to move the air," Monk Heiwa said. "Violent squalls have their place, they are as much a part of nature as the gentle breeze, but we should not be their source."

"I'm sorry. It's just the only way I know how to reach the air," Shen said. The monk studied him for a moment, then breathed in and out.

"Please follow what the other students do. If you can't make a breeze there is no shame in that, the movement for now is the important part. When you move, feel the energy of your body moving outward, becoming one with the air. Spread the energy out, don't concentrate it," Monk Heiwa said. Shen nodded and the monk returned to the lesson.

The next lesson was meditation. Monk Heiwa taught them a mantra to help them help them focus their minds and allow their consciousnesses to wander as they would. Shen did the mantra, he closed his eyes and breathed, but all he felt was a sore butt from sitting there for an hour and a half.

Then came gliding practice. Because they were so young the monks didn't allow the younger ones to go to any altitude. They started from the ground. Shen used his air-leap technique, launching himself up and then opening the glider. This had diminishing returns, for though he was the first one up, he was also the first one down. Try as he might he couldn't get altitude and when he tried to bend the air around his glider it shook him rather than carried him.

The next task was the most humiliating. Monk Heiwa took them to a circle of door-like objects that were freestanding near each other, and then blew a wind into them. They spun, coming so close together they almost hit each other. Then he sent everyone through. Shen didn't even make it to the other side of the circle, and came out with a bruised cheek.

Evening meal was served with steamed vegetables and rice, and no meat. Shen had noticed the lack of meat at breakfast but hadn't thought much of it. Now he noticed. He leaned over to one of the kids he'd been training with that day and asked, "When do they serve meat?"

"We don't eat meat," the kid said, sounding shocked. "Why should an animal suffer for our satisfaction?" Shen didn't talk to him after that, just ate his rice and vegetables in silence. After he'd finished Monk Heiwa approached Shen. The other kids were going off to do their own thing and all Shen wanted to do was lie down in his cot. It had been a long day.

"Hello. I noticed you having trouble in today's lessons," Monk Heiwa said. Shen felt his stomach flop. Was he going to be cast out now? He couldn't say it would be a surprise after everything that had happened that day.

"I guess," he said.

"You grew up in the world with no teachers, if I remember what I was told correctly," Monk Heiwa said.

"Kind of. I learned some things from my father, Jung. He was an Earthcarver," Shen said.

"Really? I've seen some Earthcarvers, they're rare. I'd be interested in what he had to say on the subject," Monk Heiwa said.

"I'd be happy to tell you, but what did you want to talk to me about? I doubt it was about Earthcarving," Shen said.

"It wasn't," Monk Heiwa agreed. "I wanted to get to know you a little better. I see that you are having issues with connecting to the air. It isn't an uncommon problem, especially for those who've gone into the world for the first time on their own. It can feel like the world has polluted you to some, the ideologies of the other nations are so different from ours, and the differences are stark. But there is much wisdom out in the world as well. And having never been to an Airtemple before, I think that you would have that problem in a much more acute way than others."

"I suppose I do. I've had trouble with my Airbending ever since marauders killed my parents," Shen said. The pain that flowed through him at those words almost made him wince physically, but he kept it off his face.

"You have been through much. And I noticed something very similar to Firebending in the way you commanded the air," Monk Heiwa said.

"I also learned from a Firebender, after I started having trouble. He taught me how to concentrate the small amount of air that I could command so that I would be useful to him and his operation," Shen said.

"I see. I think I know how to help you open yourself up to the air, would you like that?" Monk Heiwa asked.

"Yes," Shen said. He followed the monk out of the dining hall and up a series of crags. Monk Heiwa led him to a spire of rock that had stairs carved into the side and had a flat top. Tiles formed the thri-swirl symbol of the Air Nomads. "It's cold," Shen said, shivering slightly in his robes.

"It is, if you let it be," Monk Heiwa said. He sat, legs crossed in a pretzel with his feet resting on his knees. Shen copied him and shifted, trying to feel warm. "The central tenent of the ways of the Air Nomads is freedom. It is our most important aspect. To have freedom we must let go of earthly attachment, to be truly one with the air. You feel loss over the deaths of your parents, do you not?" Monk Heiwa asked.

"Of course I do," Shen said.

"While it is sad that you will never speak to them in this life, know that their spirits have lived on. They have joined the universal harmony and are at peace. Someday, you too will be at peace. You can attain a measure of it here on earth. Breath with me," Monk Heiwa said.

Shen synced his breathing with Monk Heiwa's, and for a long time they let the air flow through them. Shen shivered for a while in the cold, but as he took the air in, warmed it and released it, he felt it less and less. His thoughts at first raced, but they slowed as boredom set in. Then they ceased, and he felt a kind of blank serenity take his being. His butt hurt for a while, but the pain cycled through him, and became unimportant to the point he didn't feel it at all.

How long he sat there Shen didn't know. He just breathed in and out. Jung's face, along with Mei Li's floated across his vision, and he felt pain thinking about them. But the cold air cleansed him, and the pain became an ache. Jung's face took on a sharp quality, then it seemed to soften, becoming a cloud. Mei Li's face did the same, and they swirled away. But Shen realized that they hadn't been destroyed, they'd become a part of something. They'd become part of the air. He felt his body, every muscle, every pounding beat of his heart, and even that became dim. He felt himself rising, and he looked up to the stars above as he floated up, up. He looked down as he drifted among the clouds, but the earth was far below him. It seemed so small from up here.

Shen gasped as he opened his eyes. He was covered in dew, and his short stubby hair was wet. Monk Heiwa's beard was in a similar state and the monk opened his eyes and smiled at Shen.

"You're journey has begun," he said. Shen bowed in the style of the Airbenders, and Monk Heiwa did the same. They went down to breakfast.

By the end of the first week Shen could coax a breeze to life as well as the others in his class. He studied with some of the students his own age as well, learning about the monks and gurus of ages past. There was a lot of truth to them, and Shen felt a serenity blossoming that he hadn't felt since the circus.

A month went by, and Slobber grew much bigger and stronger. The two were now flying together over the peaks of the Air Temple. Shen learned more and more forms for Airbending, progressing quickly through the levels. He was by no means a master, but he no longer felt so much like a stranger. He got to know many of the younger monks, and even had dinner with Samyou twice a week as the two discussed the readings Shen was doing. Learning to glide was the best part, Shen had never felt so free as when he was stirring the air into the glider's wings and soaring above the temple, feeling the caress of the clouds.

One evening, in his fifth week at the temple, Shen was with Slobber. They'd flown to the outer grounds where most of the larger gardens were and the lemurs liked to pilfer what they could from the trees. Shen and Slobber had grown quite fond of aerial maneuvers and the two were exhausted from training for the Bison Races. It would be a while before they qualified, they wouldn't make it to the serious one for this season, but they were mostly having a good time, like the other young monks.

Slobber ran his large tongue over Shen, and the burgeoning monk laughed as he tried to push the bison off him. He stood, feeling peace in his surroundings, and began a dance. Slobber watched him, tongue hanging out and a line of drool dripping down as Shen made a small circle. Leaves picked up as the breeze did, and Shen coaxed them up into a pattern of flight around his body.

He felt tears prick his eyes and flow down his face as he juggled the leaves in the small and slow funnel cloud that he was generating. The smell of the circus was in his nose. It was the smell of dirt and sweaty bodies. The musk of moose-lions and platypus-bears. The perfume of the dancers, and the thousand types of food that could be sold from sticks. For the first time Shen didn't feel a pain or grief with the tears, but a happiness that had been a long time coming.

**Author's Note: It's been a while again. Oops! But you'll be happy to know that this is the second-to-last chapter in Shen's story. He's learned what it means to be an Airbender now. That will be tested in the next chapter, Two Headed Rat Viper. Both these chapters are going up, so click on the 'next' button! Hope you enjoy! ~LB**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N I don't own A:TLA, I just want to play in the world for a while. Hope you enjoy!**

Shen stepped back from the position he'd taken not thirty seconds ago and let his arms drop. The colored scarves and reed-balls tumbled to the ground in a fashion that could only be called 'semi-controlled.' Monk Heiwa and Samyou clapped from their seated positions on the meditation plaza that was on top of the spire of rock. Shen bowed, acknowledging their recognition.

"That was a very good trick Shen," Samyou said. Monk Heiwa nodded enthusiastically.

"I haven't done that since the marauders killed my family," Shen said quietly. "I'm glad the knack came back."

"It'll be a fine addition to the Airbending forms," Monk Heiwa said.

"No one's done that before?" Shen asked dubiously. It seemed like an obvious thing to think of.

"Haven't seen it done, though that doesn't mean it hasn't been," Samyou said. "This'll make you one of the youngest Airbenders in history to get a tattoo. I think a few fifteen year olds have gotten them, but it's rare for it to be that early."

"Just like that, I"m a master?" Shen asked dazedly. "That's kind of a screwy system. I don't even know half the forms!"

"Do you think so? Anyone smart enough to think of something nobody else has deserves recognition don't you think?" Monk Heiwa said, eyes twinkling.

"I guess so," Shen said.

"I'll get some of my older boys to go looking through the archives and I'll also send letters to the other temples. We should confirm that nobody else has done this within the week and you'll be a full fledged master," Samyou said.

"And I'll let Arashi and his friends know too, they'll want to be informed," Monk Heiwa said. The three started climbing down the small mountain, Slobber (who'd joined, he and Shen were becoming very attached) bringing up the rear. The small Skybison had almost ruined the show when he'd tried to catch one of the scarves in his mouth.

When the four reached the bottom of the stairs however they walked into a scrum of noise and bustling bodies. Young monks and quite a few older ones were airlifting crates up onto the backs of various bison that had arranged themselves in the central square of the temple.

"What's going on?" Monk Heiwa asked, filling his lungs with a tidal wave of air and shouting at the top of his overinflated lungs.

"Monk Heiwa, we tried to find you but couldn't!" one of the older teenage monks said. "The village near the base of the mountains has been attacked by marauders, we're going down to give them food and medicine."

"I'll grab Junyo and load him up with supplies from the healing chambers!" Monk Heiwa said back, voiced raised in urgency.

"I'll grab Horo," Samyou said, "Maybe we can transport some of them to a larger town, find some healers."

"What were the names of the marauders?" Shen asked the young monk.

"I don't know and it doesn't matter now," the monk said, breathing deep and sending a blast of air under a pallet of food. It rocketed up, only to be caught by two more monks on the back of the Skybison the pallet had flown over, and they lowered it gently down onto the behemoth's back. "That's all he can carry, let's move!" the monk said, leaping onto the Skybison's back. Shen stepped away as the great tail slammed into the earth and a shockwave of air erupted from it. The great bison lifted into the sky, as if it weighed no more than a leaf.

"Samyou," Shen shouted, running to catch up to his friend before he could truly disappear into the crowd. Samyou paused and allowed Shen to catch up, then resumed his run to his bison. "I want to help."

"I know Shen, but I can't let you. You remember Master Arashi's ultimatum. You can stay if you _stay_ but if you go you'd be outcast from our order forever. You'd wander the earth with no true home," Samyou said.

"But these marauders might be the ones that killed my family! I have to know," Shen said. Samyou stopped, and Shen nearly ran into him.

"Why do you have to know? Why would it be important? Nothing you do can change what happened to them. Move forward Shen, don't let the past be an anchor around your neck that pulls you down. Remember what you've learned here," Samyou said. "Let go."

"I'm not sure I can," Shen said quietly.

"Then what's the next step? You find out that they're the marauders that killed your family, then what? Revenge? We're taught that revenge is like a two-headed rat-viper. Even as you kill on head the other's biting you, poisoning you. Revenge is not the Air Nomad way," Samyou said.

"I just want to help. And I need to know, just for peace of mind," Shen said.

"I'm sorry, but I can't allow it. I'll try to find out and tell you when I get back, alright?" Samyou said.

"Alright," Shen said. Samyou touched Shen's shoulder and then sped off, using blasts of air to push him along far faster than a normal person (or most benders) could run. Shen waited for him to get out of sight, then ran his own way.

It took an hour for the last of the Skybison to lift off for the village. Most of the young to middle-aged Air Nomads of the temple were going down to help. Only the very young and old were staying behind, and the elders mainly because someone had to watch the younger ones. Samyou was long gone by the time Shen unfurled his glider and took to the air, trailing the last bison to leave.

As Shen rose in the air he looked back briefly. He hadn't stayed at the Air Temple long, but already it was like ripping his heart out to leave. But he had to go. He had to avenge his family. He knew that he'd never find true peace until he did. The anger that he'd so recently thought he'd put to rest boiled in his belly and he felt hot tears slide down his cheeks.

A noise startled him, and he dipped in the air as his twitch of surprise nearly upended the glider. Slobber was flying along beside him, mouth open and tongue trailing in the wind. The Skybison had grown since they'd first met, he was nearly as tall as Shen now and much broader, but he still had a ways to go before he was fully mature. His horns were starting to come in as well, much bigger than the little nubs they'd been when he and Shen had first met.

"Slobber get back!" Shen said, his voice raised over the wind. The Skybison calf grunted at him and sent a puff of air into Shen's face. "I'm serious! If you follow me you'll never see your family again!"

Slobber pumped his tail and bumped Shen in the side, nearly upending the young Airbender again. Shen corrected with a grunt, but he was smiling too. He took one hand off the glider and rubbed Slobber's furry head. He quicky gripped the strut of the glider again and willed the air currents around him to propel him faster. He and Slobber flew off into the night.

The village was smoldering. It looked like the marauders had decided to play with fire before they'd left, probably to 'discourage' any attempts at pursuit. Shen and Slobber landed in a clearing a little ways away from the village and Shen crept over the border. He didn't think anyone would recognize him in the chaos, the villagers didn't know him and most of the Nomads would be too harried to take stock of his face. But if he ran into Samyou or Monk Heiwa than it was all over. Part of him still hoped to return to the temple.

A family was huddled outside their hut. The roof was gone, only a blackened series of wooden struts remained. The walls were scorched but the stone hadn't burned as easily. Shen walked up to them and put a comforting hand on the man's shoulder.

"I heard there were Airbenders here," the man said. He sounded distant, like he was talking from the other side of a long tunnel. Shen remembered that feeling all too well and the anger burned hotter. "We're uninjured, just lost most of our things in the fire. I suppose that doesn't mean much to you," he said. Tears slid down the wife's face and she clutched her three children to her tightly.

"I was wondering if you knew who did this," Shen said quietly.

"Why would you care?" the man asked. "You wouldn't do anything about it. Not even the Avatar can be everywhere at once, and we're too small for her notice anyway."

"You're not too small for mine," Shen said, and the man looked up in surprise. He'd probably never heard of an Air Nomad speaking in anger before. "I want to stop the people that did this. Tell me who they were, and where the went."

"I don't know, I only saw a couple of them. One was big, muscly, had a hammer. The other was kind of thin, but like a Rumbler. Thin but muscly. He had a scarf on," the man said.

"Was his name Tozoku?" Shen asked.

"I didn't get a chance to ask. I only saw it because I was already getting my family out of the fire and I thought I'd have to fight 'em. Mistook them for villagers at first, but then I saw their faces. Their eyes were so cold," the man said.

"Did you see which way they went?" Shen asked again.

"I think they went west," the woman said. "Our neighbor said that they took the Berry Paths to get out, and those go west for some time." Shen bowed to them in the Air Nomad fashion and started to go, then paused. He pulled three colored scarves from his robe and made a small whirlwind in his hand. He expanded it, allowing the air to swirl around him and the scarves danced in the air. The children looked in wonder as the scarves whirled around and then fell neatly into their hands, on to each child.

"These are magic scarves," Shen said, putting on a cheerful face. It was so easy to fall back into the patter of the circus. "They bring fortune and happiness to those who hold them. Take them in good faith." The children stared at the scarves and then back to Shen, then they each wrapped the scarves around their necks. Shen bowed again and walked past. Once he was a safe distance away he unfurled his glider and took off.

Samyou had started a fire and was cooking a big pot of vegetable stew. The other Nomads of his group were getting small bowls out and were helping him get the uninjured villagers in a line so that they could have full bellies for the start of rebuilding when he felt a current of air across his bald head. He looked up and saw a young Airbender gliding above the village. A very recognizable Skybison calf was trailing in the Airbender's wake. Samyou lowered his head and said a brief prayer that the wind would guide Shen on his journey, then looked back to the pot.

Shen found the Berry Paths easily enough. They were worn paths that the villagers must have made over centuries by going through the clearest ways of wild thickets of berries. They stretched for miles before they hit a road that went through the forrest. Shen saw no light or signs of movement. Either the marauders were very good or they'd already passed through.

He flew along the Berry Paths for most of the night, trying to listen for any signs of people, but found none. He continued to the main road and landed. Slobber thumped down behind him and the Skybison lowered himself to the ground, tongue lolling. "I know you're tired boy, but we've got a ways to go," Shen said.

The road was covered in tracks from carts and ostrich-horses and Shen felt despair close in on him. He took a deep breath and focused on his anger. The wind stirred around him, and he took another breath, then started hunting for sign. Something strange caught his eye and he leaned forward in the stark moonlight to see it better.

A footprint, human, and pointed perpendicular to the road rather than parallel. Looked fresh too. So the marauders weren't stupid enough to use the real road, and had instead disappeared into the forrest. Shen started to walk, and once he did he found signs of a group passing through. Scraps of cloth were stuck to a pricklebush and the brush was trampled near the road.

"Slobber, stay here and rest. I'll be back in two hours at the maximum," Shen said. The Skybison snorted but stayed put. Shen leapt into the growth and started running. The marauders might have a lead, but they were no match for the speed of a determined Airbender.

Dawn had hit by the time Shen caught up with Tozoku and his band. He heard them bivouacking through the forrest long before he saw them. They weren't subtle, but Shen was impressed by how far they'd managed to get. He heard the rumble of Earthbending and quickly scaled a tree.

They were setting up fortifications. They raised earthen hills, careful not to break the undergrowth, just create bulges that formed a natural-looking crater. In that crater they set up earth tents, surrounding a small earth hut. It looked like Tozoku was an Earthcarver, though not much of one to Shen's eye. It looked like a child's drawing of a mansion, too small and the details too ham-handed to be mistaken for the true thing.

Shen felt his rage boil and he leapt from the tree, unfurling his glider and floating above the fortification. For a moment he hung in the air, then he closed the glider's wings and spun the staff over his head. His anger fed the wind and it tore at him and around him. He created a bubble as he landed, dispersing his force so he wasn't injured and pushing it out at the same time.

The wind tore at the tents, cracking them and shattering the ones closest to his landing zone. Cries went up from the marauders and Shen began gathering the air. A knife flew by, deflected by the crazed air currents surrounding the young Airbender. He spun the knife and sent it back towards' its thrower, who dodged just in time to be cut in a non-vital area rather than his throat.

Shen sent a blast of air at the man and knocked him back. The ground rumbled beneath Shen's feet and he leapt, using the force of the propelled rocks to get even more altitude as he spun into the air. The wind exaggerated itself along his movements, and the swirling air tore at the two Earthbenders who'd gotten their wits together enough to attack.

A stone flew and hit Shen in the neck. It stung, but didn't do more than that, and Shen looked down. Tozoku was standing at the entrance of his hut and was looking at Shen with shining eyes.

The Airbender sent a blast of air at himself, propelling himself down quickly and he landed in front of Tozoku, shaking the ground. "I recognize you," Tozoku said. "This is a hell of an audition kid."

"Not an audition," Shen said, and sent a blast of air at Tozoku's throat. The Earthbender stepped aside, raising a shield of rock to disperse the air as it tried to curve to meet him.

"Now that was rude," Tozoku said, his dead eyes almost looking alive for a moment. A ghastly smile pulled his lips apart. "Why are you attacking me? I can grant you anything you want."

"Alright, how about my family back?" Shen groweled, and sent another blast of wind at the marauder.

"Let's not be children about this little Airbender, you may not realize it but I could give you a family. We're a family here, and you'd be welcome amongst us. As soon as you acknowledge me as leader," Tozoku said.

"There've been a lot of people offering to 'let me' join their family. I've grown sick of it. I don't want to be 'let in.' I'll make my own family, but before I do I'm going to take yours away," Shen said.

"At least have some originality," Tozoku said mockingly. "This is getting boring. Yan Beng, get this kid out of here. Permanently."

Shen was blasted by a series of fist-sized stones and it took all he had to stay on his feet. The big man with the hammer and the beard brought his weapon down again and an avalanche of stone rose from the ground and Shen barely managed to get above it.

He slapped his staff down and the air followed the object's path, an invisible wave plucked at Yan Beng, but his legs were cemented into the ground. The Earthbender didn't move. The hammer came down and raised a thick but low wall around the marauder, and Yan Beng began hammering his own wall. Chunks of stone flew out and at Shen, who landed among the rockslide to avoid them. The earth started closing in around him and he leapt, but his ankle was caught. Tozoku wasn't just watching, and when Shen caught his eye the marauder lord smiled down at him. There was no emotion behind it, the man almost seemed to be going through the motions of pleasure.

Shen sent a blast of air down, breaking the rock and pushing himself up and out. He felt an energy inside him that he never had before and he slammed his staff against the ground. The shockwave knocked the marauders off their feet and Shen leapt up, driving his staff into Yan Beng's stomach. The big Earthbender whoofed his air out in a cough and Shen kicked him in the side of the head. He was down, but not dead. He still sucked air into his lungs.

A stone hit Shen's shoulder, making his entire arm go numb. Tozoku had recovered and was on the attack now, face blank. Shen spun as another stone flew toward him, feeling its path with the air.

Tozoku slammed one booted foot into the ground and Shen leapt as the ground softened, trying to suck him down. He sent a wave of air at Tozoku but the marauder spun through it, alternately sinking to his ankles and jumping to disperse the force.

Shen and the marauder lord circled each other, neither attacking nor backing away. "It's too bad you won't accept my invitation. You have a darkness in you that I could have used boy," Tozoku said.

"I'm done being used," Shen said. He looked into Tozoku's eyes again, not the scared boy, or the angry young man this time. Something hit him like a stone, but it wasn't a physical one. "And I'm done with this. I can see you now Tozoku. I came here because I wanted you to feel the despair I felt when you killed my family. You wrecked everything good in my life. But I made choices too after that. And I can see that I could never bring despair to you either. You don't feel do you? You just do these things because you can, and there's nothing in your head saying 'no' or 'that's wrong.'"

"Conscience is a construct made by those who want to keep power," Tozoku said.

"No. It's empathy. It's feeling. And you don't have those. I can't destroy your life any more than I can get my family back because it doesn't matter to you," Shen said.

"Is this your way of trying to surrender? I'm not letting you go after what you've done to my camp," Tozoku growled.

"No. I'm having a personal revelation," Shen said. With that, he struck the ground with a burst of air. Tozoku sent a wave of earth into the cloud of dust Shen had created but the Airbender wasn't there. He was behind the marauder lord. Shen grabbed the scarf's knot and pulled it, briefly choking Tozoku before it gave and pulled away from his face.

Shen summoned a wind and it picked Tozoku up, and swirled him around. The marauder lord spun, trying to spread his arms and legs to get some semblance of control but it was for naught. Shen spun him until the marauder lord was unconscious, then pulled him up to a tree. He tied the scarf around Tozoku's wrists then secured him to the branch so he was hanging by his arms.

Shen left him there, hanging and humiliated. The marauders would be unwilling to get him down after this, and the Air Nomads or the Earth Kingdom citizens could decide what to do with him. Shen walked back to Slobber, who was wide awake now and rumbling his worry. An adult Skybison was standing next to Slobber. Horo licked Shen as he came up to her, and Shen laughed.

"You made the right choice in the end," Samyou said, sitting on Horo's head.

"I hope so," Shen said.

"Hope is an illusion. And so are pants," Samyou said.

"Yet we still wear them," Shen said. "I'm banished now, right?"

"Well, seeing as you mastered your vengeance, and nobody would _know_ you'd been gone unless I said something you don't have to be," Samyou said.

"I'd know what I did. It was amazing to learn all that stuff, and I feel like I've come out of it a better person, but I'm no monk," Shen said, sighing. "Maybe if I'd stayed...but it's silly to think of 'might have beens.' I'll miss learning about my people though. But I miss being a performer too. And I want to travel the world, see all there is to see."

"I'll always be around if you need someone to talk to," Samyou said. "I might even meet up with you, I like traveling around too, and it is part of the title."

"I'd like that," Shen said. "Where would you want to go first?"

"There's this amazing thing near the Si Wong Desert, have you ever heard of the 'Misty Palms Oasis?'" Samyou asked.

"No, what is it?" Shen asked.

"Worth the trip. Plus, there's this really funky library out there where you could get some knowledge about the Air Nomads if you were interested," Samyou said.

"What would I do after that?" Shen asked.

"Whatever you wanted I suppose," Samyou said. They looked at each other for a moment and smiled. "Hop on Horo, and let's go into the wind." Shen leapt onto the back of Horo and Slobber lifted into the air so they were level. Slobber licked Shen, covering him in saliva.

"Slobber!" Shen shouted, but he was smiling. Samyou joined him and flicked the reins. Horo rose into the air and let out a rumbling roar that echoed across the countryside. The two Air Nomads flew into the breeze.

**Author's note: So writing this took a little more time than I thought it would. I was inspired by 'The Rise of Kyoshi' and wanted to stay in the world. My own projects got in the way a lot but I'm glad I got this done. This was my first FanFiction, and very probably will be my last. I've got enough of my own worlds to create without playing in other peoples'! But I'd like to thank you all for reading, and reviewing. It's helped to have an audience. If you're into super hero fiction and historical fiction look for 'The Golden Age of Heroes, Book 1 Origins.' I don't have a set date for release (learning about how ebooks work is more complicated than I thought and I'm terrible with computers) but there should be a website soon and after that a first book. This has been an amazing journey and I'm glad I could get this character out there. Good luck in your wanderings Shen! And good luck to all you readers out there! Live Long and Prosper, Go with Peace, and Wubbu Lubbu Dub Dub.**

**~LB **


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